Osteoporosis Treatment

What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a progressive disease where the bones become more porous and weaker over time. Untreated, osteoporosis will weaken, disable and kill both women and men. Almost half of the women in the United States will fracture a hip, forearm or spine sometime in their lifetime. 20% of women who fracture their hip will die within one year. And it is not just a disease of the elderly. Osteoporosis regularly begins its destructive process for women in their 30's. Becoming slightly shorter in height is the most noticeable of the osteoporosis symptoms. Osteoporosis causes postural changes, and it makes one more likely to have a bone fracture as one ages.

There are two kinds of bone cells that one should understand. Osteoclasts are the cells that travel through bone tissue, finding bone tissue that needs replacing, removing old bone by dissolving it and leaving small cavities or pores where there once was bone. Osteoblasts are the cells that form new bone cells in the cavities left by the dissolving tissue. This continuous process of bone resorption and new bone formation is how bones are kept strong in the healthy body. Bone strength is the result of the balance of these two processes. Osteoporosis happens when more bone tissue is being dissolved than is being rebuilt.

Osteoporosis in Women

In the early stages during the onset of this bone disease, there are usually no obvious symptoms. But as the disease progresses, a woman may feel pains in her bones or they can become very tender. Also, she may experience a decrease in her height due to small fractures that can occur as the bones begin to thin and weaken. As much as six inches drop in height has been known to occur. Other common symptoms are lower back pain as well as the development of pain in the neck area.

As a woman gets older, her chances of developing this disease increases. It is common for women between the ages of forty five and fifty five to develop osteoporosis. Women are more vulnerable to this disease than men because women tend to lose their bone mass faster than men and at a much earlier age than men. This is because men happen to have more bone mass than women do. Also, after a woman begins menopause, she will produce less amounts of estrogen, which up until menopause, has protected the bone calcium.

Women of any race can develop this disease, but studies show that women who have a family history of osteoporosis are at a much greater risk. Also the disease seems to be very common among white and Asian women. Slim women can also be at risk for developing this disease.

Osteoporosis Bone

BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH

For almost 2 years I asked my gynecologist to prescribe a bone density test for me.
He tried to appease me by dismissing my concerns of what I was reading. "You're
too young; you needn't worry about this." But, the risk factors in health magazine
articles were consistent. Finally he respected my request.

BE HUNGRY TO LEARN

Can you imagine knowing more about the reading of a medical test of this nature
than your doctor? It was inconceivable, but true. The results revealed I was in the
beginning stages of the precursor to osteoporosis; something called osteopenia.
The test results read similar to what I found in the book The Osteoporosis Cure by
Harris McIlwain, MD and Debra Fulghum Bruce. My doctor immediately wrote up a
prescription for me. It was for a drug with known possible side effects including
breast cancer. He was not interested in hearing about my plan for first trying one
year of an alternative program to include more exercise, added soy products and
increased calcium supplements. The potential, natural approach to prevent and
reverse bone density loss lies in a number of year-round daily routine

Osteoporosis

Many have Osteoporosis promoted weight lifting to help strengthen muscles. What is not often noted is that anything that builds your muscles will also strengthen your bones.

For osteoporosis, in addition to controlling your body weight you really need to strengthen your bones by adding external weight.

If you enjoy walking, you may have decided to carry weights while you walk. But carrying weights may stress your fingers or hands without targeting the bones of your whole body. They can also be cumbersome and throw off your balance/stride when walking.

A far superior solution is wearing a weighted vest which will more evenly distribute the weight over your torso and allow you to balance better because the weight is close to your body.

There are many weighted vests on the market, but most have been designed for men and are quite bulky and very uncomfortable to wear.