Why Bone Health Is Important
By Brian Rose, MD, Texoma LIVING WELL Magazine
When you think about staying healthy, you probably think about making lifestyle changes to prevent conditions like cancer and heart disease. Keeping your bones healthy to prevent osteoporosis may not be at the top of the wellness list. But it should be.
Osteoporosis, which means “porous bone,” is a disease characterized by low bone mass (bone thinning) that leads to bones becoming weak and breaking more easily. Throughout your lifetime, old bone is removed (a process called resorption) and new bone is added to the skeleton (a process called formation). As we age, the rate at which old bone is removed and new bone is formed changes. Bone resorption slowly begins to exceed bone formation and, as a result, osteoporosis can occur.
Osteoporosis is much more common than you might think. In fact, the National Osteoporosis Foundation states that osteoporosis is a major public health threat for an estimated 44 million Americans (80% of whom are women). Of that total, it is estimated that 10 million already have the disease and nearly 34 million have abnormally low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. Estimates also suggest that about half of all women and one in four men older than 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis. The Surgeon General reported that by 2020, half of all Americans over 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis and low bone mass. With the 50+ year old population growing, I believe this disease will continue to be a significant medical issue.
Breaking a bone is serious, especially when you’re older. Osteoporosis is responsible for more than two million fractures annually in the U.S. Broken bones due to osteoporosis are most likely to occur in the hip, spine and wrist. Broken bones can cause severe pain that may not go away. Some people lose height and become shorter. It can also affect your posture, causing you to become stooped and hunched. This happens when the bones of the spine, called vertebrae, begin to break or collapse.
Osteoporosis may even keep you from getting around easily and doing the things you enjoy. This can make you feel isolated and depressed. It can also lead to other health problems, which can cause an increase in death. A hip fracture in an older person increases the chance of death six-fold in four years, and a spinal fracture increases the chance of death eight-fold in four years.
Spinal fractures or vertebral compression fractures are the most common osteoporotic fracture. With more than 700,000 spinal fractures a year, this fracture can lead to significant changes in everyday activities and quality of life. It can also cause disability, pain or loss of independence. In fact, women age 65 or older with one or more spinal fractures have a 23% higher mortality rate than women of the same age without fractures.
Osteoporosis is often called the “silent disease” because bone loss occurs without symptoms. A person may not know they have osteoporosis until their bones become so weak that a sudden strain, bump or fall causes a fracture. For some people affected by the disease, simple activities such as lifting a child, bending down to pick up a newspaper, hugging a relative or even sneezing can cause a bone to break. This sudden spinal fracture can cause severe back pain and debilitation.
In the past, treatments to address the pain associated with osteoporotic spinal fractures were limited to back braces, pain medications, physical therapy and bed rest. Now, there are other options to alleviate the pain more effectively and address the spinal deformity. These options are minimally invasive, very safe and do not require long hospital stays. The greatest part about these procedures is that they are very effective at relieving the pain.
You can’t feel your bones becoming weaker. You could have osteoporosis now or be at risk for it without realizing it. Often, breaking a bone is the first clue that you have osteoporosis. Or, maybe you notice that you are getting shorter or your upper back is curving forward. At this point the disease may be advanced. Fortunately, a bone mineral density test can tell if you have osteoporosis before you have these symptoms. This makes it possible to treat the disease early to prevent broken bones.
