Here at Orthopaedic Associates of Zanesville we specialize in bone and joint-related injuries and help our patients resume an active life. A few weeks ago we recently talked about the importance of bone health in a recent post. We want to expand on the topic to talk about osteoporosis and osteopenia.

We want to talk about what is osteoporosis more in depth than it being a bone disease. Osteoporosis means porous bone. A normal looking bone resembles a honeycomb but with osteoporosis, the honeycomb holes and spaces are much bigger which can mean that bone density/mass has been lost. When bones lose density, they become weaker. People with osteoporosis are more likely to break a bone in the hip, spine or wrist.

You may wonder what causes osteoporosis and there are many causes like autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis) and digestive and gastrointestinal disorders like celiac disease, IBD and weight loss surgery. For more causes of osteoporosis, visit the National Osteoporosis Foundation website.

The NOF suggests the following for osteoporosis exercises and prevention:

• Get the recommended daily calcium and vitamin D
• Do regular weight-bearing and muscle strengthening exercises
• Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol

You can’t feel your bones getting weaker but symptoms of osteoporosis include:

• Fracturing a bone from a minor fall or in more serious cases, from simple actions like sneezing or spontaneously.
• Vertebral fracture
• Women losing 20 percent of their bone mass 5-7 years after menopause

This short video uses 3-D Medical Animation to explain more about Osteoporosis

Tags: Bone and Joint Health, Bone health, Orthopaedic Associates of Zanesville