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Bone Health Osteopenia and Osteoporosis
What is osteoporosis, and how does it develop?
Osteoporosis is a condition that results when the bone mass declines. As a result, your bones become brittle, weak, and susceptible to fragility fractures that are often slow to heal.
The bones usually reach their peak mass in the late 20s. Throughout adulthood, bones continuously eliminate damaged or old bone mass and replace it with new bone. This is a continuous process, called remodeling which keeps your bones strong.
During middle age, bone loss starts to outpace bone production, and subsequently, your bone density decreases. While this affects both men and women, women’s risk significantly accelerates after reaching menopause.
What causes osteoporosis?
The common cause of osteoporosis includes natural imbalance created by bone remodeling; however, there are several other reasons why osteoporosis result, such as:
- Thyroid problems
- Lack of calcium and vitamin D
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Long-term use of corticosteroids
- Low levels of estrogen or testosterone
Several medical conditions, such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may also increase your risk of developing osteoporosis.
What symptoms develop due to osteoporosis?
Generally speaking, you won’t experience any symptoms from osteoporosis unless the condition weakens your bones enough to cause a fragility fracture. In severe cases, you can sustain a fracture from lifting a light object or a forceful sneeze.
Osteoporosis typically causes two unique types of fractures, such as:
1. Fragility fracture, or low-trauma fracture
The fractures that result from a fall from standing height or less is considered a fragility fracture. In other words, the bones break from pressure that wouldn’t fracture a healthy bone. Fragility fractures most commonly affect the wrist or hip, resulting in swelling, pain, and inability to use the affected bone.
2. Vertebral compression fracture
Compression fractures result when a bone collapses because it can’t support the body weight it usually carries. Osteoporotic compression fractures often occur in your spine and affect multiple vertebrae. Symptoms of a compression fracture include sudden back pain and limited spinal movement.
Many people complain of height loss as vertebrae flatten. It’s also common for vertebrae to collapse in the front while maintaining their average height in the back portion of the bone. This makes the middle of your back become rounded, known as the dowager’s hump.
How is osteoporosis treated?
We treat osteoporosis with calcium and vitamin D supplements, which improve bone production, and medications such as bisphosphonates to prevent bone loss. You may also need hormone replacement therapy to restore normal levels of testosterone or hormone in some cases.
To understand whether you’re at risk for osteoporosis and fractures, schedule an appointment to be seen immediately by Dr. Rehman at District Endocrine via phone or booking online.
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