All about Osteoporosis


Osteoporosis

Hello!

And welcome to One Care Medical Center, Covai’s premier orthopedic hospital.  I am a full time practicing orthopedic doctor in Coimbatore

In this blog, In this rather elaborate blog post, we are going to discuss everything under the sun about Osteoporosis

In osteoporosis, your bones typically degenerate and become exceedingly fragile and brittle due to very low bone mass and the loss of bone tissue

Osteoporosis as a clinical condition is frequently called as a silent disease because you cannot actually feel the progression of the disease state.

Most people realize they have osteoporosis only until after they have broken their bone. Till then, it’s silent and deadly as well affecting over 10 million individuals worldwide.

Osteoporosis has been found to be more common among women as compared to men. Moreover, osteoporosis affects individuals more commonly after 50 years of age

What causes Osteoporosis?

Bone is living and a highly dynamic structure. Bone is continuously formed, modeled and absorbed. During infancy and early growing years, bone formation rate is far greater than the bone resorption rate.

The net result is accelerated bone growth. By about 30 years of age, you are bones are fully developed and formed. The bone has usually reached its peak strength.

After this, the bone resorption rate overtakes bone formation. When there is gross imbalance between these 2 processes, that’s when osteoporosis results.

Osteoporosis is associated with certain risk factors. They are as follows

A.Having a family fracture history

B.> 50 years of age

C.Asian origin

D. Lastly Menopause

E. Smoking

F. Excess alcohol consumption

G. Absolute lack of exercise

H. Vitamin D deficiency

I. Glucocorticoid based medication usage

Assessment of bone mineral density with the help of  DEXA scan can help estimate your risk for osteoporosis.

My doctor diagnosed me with secondary osteoporosis? What does it mean?

As the word means, secondary osteoporosis develops secondary to some other disease state. Some medical conditions that can lead to secondary osteoporosis include

Long term kidney disease

Liver failure

Cushing’s disease

Rheumatoid arthritis

COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

Diabetes

Hyperthyroidism

Blood Cancers

Osteoporosis management in the aforementioned condition first involves treating the primary disease.

What are the complications of osteoporosis?

Broken Bones is the most common complication of osteoporosis.

The risk of fracturing a bones is greater than the combined risk of uterine, breast and ovarian cancer. Osteoporosis-related bone fractures commonly occur first in the spine, next wrists, then lastly the hips and pelvis. These fractures occur due to a fall or minor accidents.

Spinal fractures are also common and can cause the vertebral bones to crumble. This can affect the person’s posture and also cause severe back pain. The associated emotional burden combined with depression is another terrible thing to live with

Osteoporosis treatment strategies:-

Simple treatment strategies that can help prevent osteoporosis include

A. Avoidance of smoking
B. Avoiding alcohol
C. Following a nutritionally rich healthy diet
D. Performing regular weight-bearing exercise

There are 2 key nutrients that are incredibly important for osteoporosis prevention. One is Calcium and the other is Vitamin D. Low intake of calcium has been well connected to bone loss and also high rates of fracture. Calcium needs of the body usually peak during childhood, pregnancy, and in the post-menopausal period.

With increasing age, the body also becomes less proficient in absorbing calcium from the system. Thus supplementing the body with good food becomes very important

Some excellent food-related sources of calcium include

A. Low-fat dairy products such as yogurt and cheese

B. Dark and green leafy vegetables

C. Tofu

D. Almonds

E. Soy Milk and Bread

Next, as far as Vitamin D is concerned. Much of the natural production of this nutrient happens in the skin when you go for an early morning walk. But as physical activity of individuals decreases with increasing age, Vitamin D production can also fall. Thus staying active and physically fit is very important.

Getting adequate sunlight exposure can itself help your body make the vitamin D it requires for day to day functions

Exercising with Osteoporotic bones

Low impact moderate exercises are probably the best for osteoporosis. Simple exercises like walking, aerobics, hiking, dancing can go a long way in strengthening your muscles as well as build bone density.

A lot of new drugs eg – strontium ranelate and other related medications are under clinical trials for the prevention of osteoporosis induced fractures. While the outcomes and clinical benefit seem fascinating, nothing beats taking care of your health appropriately in your younger years. Prevention is always better than cure.

I hope you enjoyed this short article on osteoporosis. Keep watching this space for more interesting reads!

References:-

  1. The Diagnosis of osteoporosis
  2. Treating osteoporosis

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