Osteoporosis is a disease that touches human bones. It’s coming from the noun “porous bone”. That means the presence of anomalous holes and spaces in the bone tissue. This disease causes a loss in the density of bones. This condition leads to having weaker bones, with a higher risk of fracture. Bones can break easily from a fall and even, for very complicated cases, from a simple clash. So, everything you should know about osteoporosis is down below.
This disease can touch all ages, but it is common to find older adults more affected. In the USA more than 53 million people are affected with osteoporosis or at high risk to have it in the future. Also, Both women and men can be affected by this condition. Nevertheless, we can prevent osteoporosis or even treate it if we diagnose it earlier.
People with osteoporosis conditions don’t see symptoms at the beginning of this disease. Until they get a sudden fracture, they discover their real illness. The common fractures that happen touch in general hips, wrist, vertebrae in the spine, and the bones of the forearm. Read more if you want to have everything you should know about osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis Symptoms:
As it was said, osteoporosis at the beginning doesn’t show in general specific symptoms. The person affected doesn’t know about his condition until a fracture happens. Which don’t make osteoporosis an easily diagnosed disease. Nonetheless, there are some signs that you have to pay attention to, in order to discover if you suffer from osteoporosis earlier:
– Back pain
– Weak and brittle nails
– Weakened grip strength
– Stooped posture
– Loss of height over time
And the ultimate symptom is breaking bones easily and frequently.
Also, if you have a family member affected by this condition and even if you don’t have any symptoms, see you, doctor. Thus check if you don’t have any risk to develop osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis Risk factors:
The bones are in a constant process of regeneration. When we are young our body made new bones faster than he brakes the old bones tissue. Thus, the growth of our bone tissue is complete at the age of 20. Until the 30 the body continues to accumulate the density of the bone tissue. After the age of 30, the body slowdown in the production of the bone tissue, and the destruction of the old tissue continues. Thus the density of our bones that will live with us, we get it before the age of 30. If we gain more density during our first 30 years our risk of getting osteoporosis decreases considerably.
And here we get to talk about the risk factors that can lead to this condition:
The first is age, as we explained, with getting older the process of bone tissues produced is slowing down. So bones get more fragile.
After age, we can talk about Sex. Women have a higher risk to develop this condition than men. It’s essentially due to menopause and hormonal production that diminish during this stage.
The race also is a risk factor. Researches showed that white people and Asian descent are more affected by osteoporosis.
Family history, having a parent suffering from osteoporosis, higher your risk to get it.
Body dimension, we noticed that persons with a small body have a higher risk to develop osteoporosis. Because probably they have fewer bones mass than taller people.
Osteoporosis direct Causes:
The hormonal level disorder is one of the main factors that can lead to osteoporosis. Women suffer from a big reduction of the hormonal levels at the age of menopause. Men notice a more progressive diminution of their sexual hormonal while aging. The sudden reduction of sexual hormones is the main cause that can weaken bones. The treatment of some diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer might cause a reduction in the level of hormones.
Thyroid problems can lead to osteoporosis. The overactive thyroid producing a lot of hormones can damage your bones and weaken them. Also taking hormonal medications to activate an underactive thyroid can cause bone problems. The over-reactivity of other glands like parathyroid and adrenal glands can also be a factor.
Osteoporosis Nutrition and Lifestyle Causes:
The lack of calcium intake is the main nutritional factor to develop osteoporosis. It contributes to diminish the bone density and to weaken bones. Besides, eating disorders and being under normal weight can weaken as well as bones for men and women. Also, some surgery in the digestive system, to diminish the stomach or to remove a part of the intestine can lead to some nutrition deficiency. It causes the diminution of the surface of the absorption of nutrients. And this can cause a lack of nutrients important to the health of our bones.
Coming to lifestyle, doctors talk about the importance of exercising to diminish the risk of osteoporosis. People who spend a lot of time in their office or at home sitting have a higher risk than active persons. Also, the higher consummation of alcohol rises up the risks. Another factor of risk is smoking.
Osteoporosis Medical condition and Medication factors:
Some medical problems cause a higher risk to have osteoporosis in the future. They include cancers, kidney and liver diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases…etc.
The use of some medications containing a corticosteroid, higher risks. This component interferes with the process of regeneration of bone tissues. The overuse of those medications can lead to osteoporosis conditions. These medications are used for:
– cancer
-Transplant rejection
-Gastric reflux.
Osteoporosis Complications:
If we don’t pay attention to the signs that our body gives us, osteoporosis can worsen. As bones get weaker, we can get a severe fracture. The fracture at the hips or in the spire is the most severe complication. This kind of fracture can generate a disability condition. It can lead, if complications, to the death of the person.
When osteoporosis gets worse, the person can suffer from a crumpling of vertebrae. This can cause hardback or neck pain. The person can lose height and have a hunched forward posture.
Healing from a fracture caused by osteoporosis condition depends on many parameters. It depends on the localization of the fracture, its severity, the age of the person, and his health condition.
