3/20/2011

An overview of osteoporosis

osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a condition characterised by loss of calcium from the bone matrix. It is typically a disease of post-menopausal women and elderly males. Although it tends to affect both males and females, females are more prone to the adverse effects of osteoporosis due to the following reasons:
1. Women have less bone mass to start with. Therefore they are more liable to lose calcium from bones.
2. Both testosterone and estrogens are important for bone health. But unlike women, there is no such thing as male menopause (at least not as a separate clinical entity). Therefore, postmenopausal women lose bone mass quickly.
Before going into details of osteoporosis, which will serve us well, metabolism, basic understanding of bone density. Bone is a dynamic structure of organic and inorganic elements. The biological elements are made of collagen and elastin, while the inorganic components are calcium and phosphate.Nearly 90% of body calcium in bone and calcium is constantly turned. Bone is a dynamic structure above. Every day old bone is destroyed and formed new bone. Peak bone mass is reached by 30 years. Also, there is a permanent reduction in bone mass.
The female hormone estrogen plays an important role in bone mineral metabolism. E 'primarily responsible for the extension and the closure of the epiphysis. He is also responsiblemaintaining the overall bone health in women. Therefore after menopause when the levels of estrogens fall the loss of bone mass is accelerated. This is the reason why osteoporosis is fairly common amongst the post menopausal women.
There are many other causes for osteoporosis. Some of the major causes include:
1. Poor nutrition
2. Prolonged steroid use (greater than three months cumulative)
3. Hormonal disorders like Cushing's disease and Hyperthyroidism.
After seeing something of bone mineral metabolism, we now turn osteoporosis symptoms. Osteoporosis itself has no specific symptoms. Women with osteoporosis may be vague nonspecific symptoms like fatigue, weakness and bone pain. But these are not very specific, and you can not diagnose osteoporosis solely on the basis of these symptoms. The main problem of osteoporosis is the high risk of bone fractures, itconfers on women. Since the bones become weak due to loss of calcium, osteoporotic bones tend to become weak and break with trivial trauma. For example, most of us may not break a bone in a simple fall, but osteoporotic women may sustain fractures with even trivial falls. This is the major problem with osteoporosis. Apart from this, osteoporotic bones also heal poorly leading to delayed union or malunion.
Osteoporosis is diagnosed by measuring the bone density. The bone Scanning density is called a DEXA measured. DEXA bone density relationship as standard deviations from normal operation. If a woman is diagnosed with osteoporosis, then to -2 SD.
Once diagnosed with osteoporosis therapy should be started immediately. The treatment is essentially
1. Calcium supplements
2. The use of bisphosphonates
3. Prevention of falls
A full and detailed discussion of osteoporosis treatment is beyond the scope of this The article can be found on my site. There is also an article on exercises for women with osteoporosis and fall prevention, you may find useful.
Finally, it is important to know the causes and prevention of osteoporosis, because it can cause serious problems later in life. Prevention is important because osteoporosis is rarely symptomatic, but badly in serious complications such as fracture healing. To join> Osteoporosis.