I Need Help With... Osteoporosis
Understanding and Preventing Osteoporosis
What is osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis is a condition in which your bones become weak, often brittle, and easy to break. There aren’t any symptoms, so you might not know that you have osteoporosis (bone loss) without seeing us first, or until you break a bone!
The last thing you want is to start breaking bones. Osteoporosis most commonly affects your hips, wrist and your spine.
Simply being a woman means that you have a chance of getting osteoporosis. If you’re thin (under 127 pounds), have a family history of osteoporosis, or are getting on in your years, you’re at a higher risk.
Your diet and exercise level can dramatically affect your bone health. Long term use of some medicines (arthritis, asthma, anti-seizure amongst others) can also increase your chances of getting osteoporosis.
Signs of Osteoporosis
We can run some tests to find out your bone strength or bone density. Especially if you’re over 65, talk to us about one of these tests, or if you weight less than 150 pounds and are over 55.
But don’t wait! You can test your bone density at any time.
Osteoporosis Prevention
Start today. Start building strong bones today, and you won’t have to worry about weak bones later!
It is never too late to start! Especially if you’re young, now is the time to pay attention to your bone health. After menopause, bone loss increases more quickly. But there are steps you can take to stop your bones from becoming weak and brittle.
Osteoporosis nutrition
Get enough calcium each day. Also, you should be taking vitamin D every day. Vitamin D helps your body take in calcium. You can get vitamin D through sunlight and foods like milk.
Other nutrients, like vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc, as well as protein, help build strong bones too. Milk provides many of these nutrients. But you can also get these nutrients by eating a healthy diet, including with foods that have these nutrients. Some examples are lean meat, fish, green leafy vegetables, and oranges.
Osteoporosis Exercise
Exercise helps your bones by slowing bone loss, improving muscle strength, and helping your balance.
Weight-bearing exercise is particularly helpful to avoid bone loss and avoid osteoporosis. This is any activity in which you work against gravity – run, dance, climb stairs, walk up hills, lift weights. It all helps. It will help you feel better in general as well!
Other Osteoporosis Treatment
Don’t smoke. It’s as simple as that. It increases your risk of getting osteoporosis, damages your bones, and lowers the amount of estrogen in your body. It’s just plain bad for you. Also, if you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.
Smoking raises a woman’s risk of getting osteoporosis. It damages your bones and lowers the amount of estrogen in your body. Estrogen is a hormone made by your body that can help slow bone loss.
The Bottom Line: Your Bone Health is Up To You
Lifestyle changes and medical treatment are part of a total program to prevent future fractures. A diet rich in calcium, daily exercise, and drug therapy are treatment options. Good posture and prevention of falls can lower your chances of being injured.
While medicines are available to prevent and treat bone loss, your best option is to start doing the right things today. When you come in for a visit, we’ll cover every option with you, and provide you with the tools and information you need to maintain healthy and strong bones.