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3. Osteoporosis

Cause of osteoporosis

Most people think of their bones as completely solid and unchanging. This is not true. Your bones are constantly changing as they respond to the way you use your body. As muscles get stronger, the bones underneath them also get stronger. As muscles lose strength, the bones underneath them weaken. As we aged, we make building bone mass more difficult and our density of bone become looser and looser. In medical terms we called this condition as osteoporosis.

What are the risk factors to develop osteoporosis?

A number of factors contribute to or put you at risk of developing osteoporosis:

• Advanced age
• Female gender- the loss of estrogen at menopause can cause the bones to lose density very rapidly.
• Recent weight loss
• History of fractures
• Family history of fractures
• Tobacco use
• Use of certain medications (e.g., corticosteroids, anticonvulsants, and thyroid medicine)
• Eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia

Symptom of osteoporosis

Fractures caused by osteoporosis are often painful. Osteoporosis itself, however, has no symptoms. It is often called the ‘silent disease’ as many people don’t recognize they have it until a fracture occurs. For this reason it is especially important to get tested if you are a woman past menopause and have any of the above risk factors. Women over 65 should be tested whether or not they have other risk factors. People with other bone problems or who take drugs that weaken the bones should also be tested. An initial screening for osteoporosis is painless and easy.

Treatment of osteoporosis

The goal of your treatment plan will be to prevent fractures. This is especially important if you've already suffered a fracture from osteoporosis. To prevent fractures, you need to take several steps to increase your bone mass:

• If you smoke, quit immediately.
• If you drink alcohol, do so moderately.
• Make sure you get enough calcium and vitamin D. (Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium.) Researchers think that increased calcium intake alone could reduce the number of fractures by 10 percent.
• Eat enough calories to maintain a healthy weight. Being too thin increases your risk of osteoporotic fractures. Weight loss can be a cause of bone loss.
• Exercise. Your bones are constantly adjusting to the demands you put on them. Even low levels of exercise can help you maintain better bone mass.
• The goal of our treatment is to educate you on proper posture, teach you safe ways of moving and lifting, and to provide you with exercises you can do at home to help prevent a decline in bone mass and prevent fractures.
• Our physiotherapist would use ice, heat, ultrasound to ease your pain
• Our doctor will teach you some strengthening exercises for your bones to maintain the density of bone.