Osteoporosis is a silent disease that weakens bones, making them more brittle and prone to fractures. This blog provides an overview of osteoporosis, its symptoms, causes, treatments, and management options.

Osteoporosis means "porous bone" in English. This disease weakens your bones, thus having it raises your risk of unexpected and sudden bone fractures. Imagine your bones are like a building made of bricks. Normally, the bricks are strong and tightly packed together, forming a sturdy structure. But with osteoporosis, the bricks become weaker and more spread out, making the building less stable and more likely to collapse.

In Osteoporosis your bones become lesser dense and more brittle. It commonly worsens without any symptoms or pain, and it is frequently not even diagnosed until painful fractures are caused by the weakened bones. Hip, wrist, and spine fractures are the most prevalent injuries seen in osteoporosis.

What are Osteoporosis Symptoms?

Osteoporosis frequently has no symptoms at all. The illness is at times referred to as a quiet disease. Still, you need to be cautious about the below given points:

• Height decline (if you are getting shorter by an inch or more)
• Positional change (stooping or bending forward)
• Respiratory difficulty (smaller lung capacity due to compressed disks)
• Fractures in bones
• Lower back discomfort

What Causes Osteoporosis?

Even without knowing the precise reason why osteoporosis occurs, yet researchers exactly know how it occurs. Developing, living tissue makes up your bones. Your healthy bone's interior resembles a sponge and your trabecular bone belongs to this region. This spongy bone is encased by an outer layer made of cortical bone.

Osteoporosis causes "holes" in the "sponge" to enlarge and multiply, leading to weakening the interior of your bones. Your vital organs are shielded by and supported by bones. When the body lacks calcium, bones are broken down but your body rebuild them. The body retains bone strength and receives calcium through bone remodeling.

Up until the age of roughly 30, you typically gain more bone than you lose. Around age 35, your bone mass gradually decreases as a result of bone breakdown outpacing bone formation. When you have osteoporosis, you start to lose bone mass more quickly. The process occurs faster after menopause.

What are Osteoporosis Treatment?

While Osteoporosis condition cannot totally be treated, there are certain things you may do to lower your risk of getting osteoporosis,

In order to determine whether they would benefit from more calcium or vitamin D, males over the age of 50 and post-menopausal women (those who have stopped menstruating) should talk to their doctor about their calcium and vitamin D levels. Your doctor may suggest the following also:

• Stop Smoking: this can lower your risk of lung cancer and osteoporosis from the first day you stop smoking.
• Maintaining a Healthy Weight: depending on your BMI, this could mean losing or gaining weight.
• Limit Alchol: Limiting alcohol consumption to no more than 2 regular drinks per day or less will help avoid osteoporosis.
• Keep Excersing: Exercises that strengthen the bones include weight-bearing exercises like brisk walking and muscle-building exercises like strength training, which can aid in the self-healing and strengthening of brittle bones.
• Balance Training: Training your balance can keep you from falling if you are in danger of doing so.

How to Manage Osteoporosis?

In order to avoid fractures, osteoporosis must be managed by reducing or halting bone loss. Your doctor may advise lifestyle modifications and medicines to lessen your risk of fracturing a bone if test results reveal that you have osteoporosis or bone density below a specific level and have additional fracture risk factors.

It is possible to cure osteoporosis with the same healthy lifestyle decisions that help prevent it. They include eating healthily and engaging in regular exercise. But, if you have lost a lot of bone density, lifestyle adjustments might not be sufficient.

There are also other drugs to take into account. Some can assist you stop bone loss, while others can aid in bone regrowth.

-RANKL blockers, estrogen, bisphosphonates, calcitonin, and medications that alter how estrogen behaves in the body are among the treatments that slow down bone loss.

-A synthetic parathyroid hormone and pharmaceuticals that block the sclerostin protein are examples of medications that aid in bone regrowth.

It is crucial to prevent activities that could result in a fracture in addition to controlling your osteoporosis. Such motions include twisting your spine, like when you swing a golf club, or bending forward from the waist, like when you do sit-ups and toe touches.

FAQs

Does taking more calcium than 1200 mg per day have any negative effects?

It is not helpful and might possibly be detrimental to consume more calcium than is necessary. When you take calcium supplements in excess, your kidneys expel the extra calcium into your urine. This can raise the chance of kidney stones in some persons. Also, some research has revealed a connection between calcium supplementation and heart disease, but these results are inconclusive.

Does having osteoporosis indicate that you are not getting enough calcium?

Getting insufficient calcium is just one of numerous things that might cause osteoporosis. However, even if a person consumes enough calcium from food and/or supplements, they may still be at risk for bone loss due to other factors, such as a family history of osteoporosis, a lack of exercise, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, inadequate vitamin D intake, and the presence of certain medical conditions or the use of specific medications that can contribute to bone loss.

Do vitamin D pills shield the body from fractures?

A well-balanced diet should provide enough vitamin D for healthy persons who do not have a vitamin D shortage. To make sure they are getting the right amount of vitamin D, people with osteoporosis and low bone mass should talk to their doctor about their vitamin D levels.

Does coffee cause the body to lose calcium? If so, what quantity is harmful?

It seems that caffeine slightly reduces the body's ability to absorb calcium. More than three cups of coffee each day could be detrimental to bone health. Getting enough calcium to meet your body's demands will help you make up for any calcium loss if you enjoy drinking coffee and tea.

My balance is shaky and I have osteoporosis. I am concerned about breaking a bone if I fall. How can I strengthen my balance?

By doing a few straightforward exercises daily, many people may increase their balance and lower their chance of falling. These two drills could be useful for you:

Exercise 1: Hold on for one minute while standing on one leg at a time, facing a countertop or the back of a strong chair. Repeat while switching sides.

Exercise 2: Hold on and rock up onto your toes while standing and facing a countertop or the back of a solid chair for ten counts. Then, for a count of 10, turn back onto your heels. 10 times in total.

Is osteoporosis to blame for the stiffness and pain in my back and legs?

Osteoarthritis is more frequently linked to stiffness and pain in the knees or legs than osteoporosis, which is rare. Osteoporosis, however, as well as other diseases like osteoarthritis or degenerative disc disease, may be the cause of back discomfort. Along with other disorders, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis are a possibility.