About Osteoporosis

Barney Garcia asked:


Osteoporosis is a bone disease which causes a deterioration of bone density and low bone mass. This is dangerous because is causes the bones to become fragile (especially the hips, spine and wrists) and there is increased risk of broken bones and slow recovery periods. Osteoporosis can affect any bone, but special attention is placed on the hips and spine, because the breaking of these bones can result in long term injury including difficulty walking, hospitalization, deformity, loss of height, severe pain and even death. You should ask your doctor to check you bone density levels yearly, since this disease often has no symptoms at all. When a person finally does experience any symptoms, they are usually so far into the disease that what they are feeling is back pain because of a fractured vertebra.

Women are more likely to contract this disease than men, often due to menopause, in which bone loss increases. One in four women are affected with this disease, while only one in eight men are. Certain people are at a high risk factor for developing this disease however, and you should be cautious if you have any of the following risk factors. Having a personal history of low bone mass, being female, being thin (male or female) having abnormal menstrual periods for women, currently having or have had anorexia nervosa in the past, eating a diet low vitamin D and calcium currently and throughout your life, having an inactive life style, having low testosterone levels in men, being a smoker, being a heavy drinker and being Caucasian or Asian. However, keep in mind that people with these risk factors are not the only people who can get this disease, and all people are at risk and should be checked for the disease regularly.

There are certain things you can do to prevent your risk of developing osteoporosis including consuming a diet rich in vitamin D and calcium, having an active lifestyle and doing weight baring exercises, quitting smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation and taking regular bone density tests. Doctors and health professionals both agree that this is a very preventable disease as long as you take proper care of your health. Even if you start taking these precautions late in life, they will still lower your chance of developing the disease.

For more information, resources, and definitions on diseases please visit http://www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/index.html



Annie

S.S.Chandana asked:


Osteoporosis is a Diffuse reduction in the bone density that leads to weakening of the bone. This weakening may lead to fractures, especially of the spine, hip and wrist.  

The Treatment of Osteoporosis consists of Pharmacological options for managing Osteoporosis and Exercises. Most people are not aware of the great benefits that exercises have to sustain healthy bones. Exercises are safest and effective way of building Bone Mineral Density (BMD). Here you will be reading about various form of exercises which would benefit you. Physical activity has been shown to have a positive effect on bone remodeling. The Exercises are said to stimulate osteoblastic activity and improve BMD (Bone mineral density).

Two types of exercises which are recommended for osteoporotic bones are Weight-bearing and Resistance exercises.

Weight-bearing means your legs and feet are bearing your weight, for e.g. Walking, Stair climbing. Patients should walk 15 to 20 minutes, three to four times a week. Overuse injuries can occur if the patient over trains or due to lack of appropriate rest intervals. Casual walking is usually not enough to improve the BMD. Brisk walking is always the exercise of choice for osteoporosis unless contraindicated. Other weight bearing exercises are jogging, climbing stairs.

Non weight-bearing exercises, such as with bicycle ergo meter can also be done. Patients should gradually increase their exercise session by 1 minute on every other session, until they reach their target length of workout. Don’t use inclines on the treadmill.

Resistance training should involve all major muscle groups. Hip extensions, squats, lumbar extensions, leg presses, arm rowing, bicep curls, wrist curls and chest presses are few exercises which can be included in the resistance training. Perform resistance exercises every third day. Consider direct supervision on a one to one basis from a trained Physical therapist.

Precautions have to be taken while doing exercises. Avoid running, rowing machines, high-impact and high velocity aerobic exercises. Also avoid combining flexion and rotation of trunk in case of osteoporosis of spine to reduce stress of vertebrae and its discs. Don’t do torsional movements of hip during weight bearing activities of lower extremities. Avoid resisted end range movements. Last but not the least all the exercises should be supervised by qualified Physical therapist at least initially.



Ruby