LIFESTYLE NEWS - Your bones are your body's support structure and frame. Bones are constantly remodelling themselves by absorbing old bone and replacing it with new bone.
By your mid-30s, however, your body starts to lose more bone than it replaces. The result can be weaker bones. The composition of the bones changes such that they become progressively weaker and more brittle. When mild to moderate changes of this sort occur doctors term that osteopenia. Once significant bone loss occurs, doctors call this condition osteoporosis.
While the progressive changes of osteoporosis do not cause painful symptoms, it increases your risk for breaking a bone. The most serious injury is a broken hip, which can severely affect a person's movement, quality of life, and in certain elderly populations actually carries a high risk of death.
Osteoporosis comes with a considerable number of risk factors. Some of them can be controlled while others cannot.
- Having already experienced menopause
- Family history of osteoporosis
- Female gender, especially females of Caucasian or Asian origin
- History of age-related height loss
- History of broken bones
- History of hormone-related medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism and Cushing's disease
- History of osteopenia
- Low body mass
- Age older than 50
- Excess alcohol consumption
- Excess amounts of caffeine, protein and sodium in your diet
- Lack of calcium and vitamin D in your daily diet
- Lack of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet
- Lack of regular physical activity
- Long-term use of certain medications, including anticonvulsants and glucocorticoids
- Smoking/tobacco use
Doctors call osteoporosis a 'silent disease' because the condition often has no symptoms. The first sign a person has the condition is often a painful bone fracture. Talk to your doctor about your individual concerns and unique risk factors for osteoporosis.
Source: Healthline
This article is for informative purposes only. Please see your doctor if you experience any symptoms.
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