What is Osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis means 'porous bone' and is a condition in which bones become increasingly fragile and are more likely to break. Broken bones, also known as fractures, occur typically in the hip, spine and wrist.
- Your bones are complex living tissues that provide structural support for muscles, protection for vital organs, and a convenient store for calcium
- The strength of your bones depends on their mass and density. Density of bone depends on the amount of calcium, phosphorous and other minerals bones contain
- The important years for building bone are from adolescence up to the mid 30's
- Bone is continuously changing throughout your life- new bone is made and old bone is broken down, - a process called re-modelling or bone turnover
- In your youth, bone building prevails and more bone is gained than lost. However, after about the mid 30's, bone breakdown outperforms formation and density declines naturally
Why does osteoporosis occur?
There are three main reasons why osteoporosis occurs:
1. If a person does not have enough strong bone mass
by the age of 30, before bone loss outperforms bone
gain
2. If bone loss after the age of 30 happens too fast
3. At menopause, usually around the age of 50, the
decline of the female hormone oestrogen results in a
marked decrease in bone density
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Who is affected?
Osteoporosis can affect women, men and children of all ages.
- It is commonly regarded as a woman's disease because it affects one in three women over 50
- However, one in five men over the age of 50 will be affected by osteoporosis with 20% of all spinal fractures and 30% of all hip fractures occurring in men
- The likelihood of developing osteoporosis increases with age, affecting one third of women aged 60-70 years, and as many as two thirds of women aged 80 years and older
Signs & symptoms
Osteoporosis is often called the silent disease, because bone loss occurs without symptoms. You may not know that you have osteoporosis until a sudden fall or strain causes a hip fracture or collapsed vertebrae.
Signs and symptoms of osteoporosis include
- Fractures of the vertebrae, hips and other bones - osteoporosis silently depletes the bone of calcium, increasing the likelihood of breaks especially in the bones that directly support your weight, such as the spine and hips
- Loss of height over time - while all of us lose some height through the normal aging process, a significant loss, usually greater than 1 inch, may be one of the earliest signs of osteoporosis
- Stooped posture - multiple fractures of the spine can lead to posture changes
- Back pain - back pain is a common complaint and a symptom of many conditions. In the case of osteoporosis, back pain may be caused by the compression of bones in your spine
