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Osteoporosis: Prevention and Treatmentby Heather Simpson
What disease affects more than 10 million Americans, which nearly 80% of them being women? That disease is osteoporosis (3). Osteoporosis is defined as a disease of the bones, which causes them to become weak, brittle and fragile, rendering bones throughout the skeleton susceptible to fracture. (6) It is estimated that 38 million dollars each day is spent on detecting, preventing or on the treatment of osteoporosis (3). The sad part about this disease is that osteoporosis can be prevented very easily, but yet, it still affects many peoples' daily lives. Osteoporosis was once thought to be a natural part of the aging process, but now researchers know it to be preventable. It isn't normal for bone tissue to lose so much strength that it can't withstand the stresses of normal activity on the body. Osteoporosis causes people pain in regular activities such as bending over to pick up the morning paper, turning around to look behind, or something as simple as standing for a good length of time. But osteoporosis is just the start to the problem, because it is said that nearly 44 million Americans have osteopenia (5) which means that the numbers will just continue to grow. Osteopenia is the beginning stages of the full blown osteoporosis disease. So, this disease isn't just a disease that only affects a little bit of the population, but it continues to grow and will continue to worsen before it gets better. Osteoporosis is simply characterized by weak bones. However, osteoporosis is known as the "silent disease" because osteoporosis can occur without any symptoms and people with the disease don't usually know they have it until something happens, like they fall and break a bone because their bones are so weak (3). Osteoporosis causes the bones to weaken, and because all the bones in our body have different stresses on it, the stresses cause the bones to collapse slowly. In fact, someone with the osteoporosis disease can lose up to four inches in their total body height due to their various bones weakening and collapsing (1). A lot of times, people with osteoporosis have different spine deformities because of the disease. People with a "hunchback" or kyphosis of the spine generally are stooped over and have the osteoporosis disease. However, all of this can be prevented because almost 100% of osteoporosis is preventable and treatable. There are four easy steps to preventing osteoporosis. These are a well-balanced diet (with lots of calcium and vitamin D), a generally healthy lifestyle (with no smoking or excessive alcohol intake), weight baring exercises, and finally having a bone density test performed frequently (3). If a person starts taking these steps towards preventing osteoporosis before the age of 20, there will be a significant decrease in the risk of getting osteoporosis. According to a study by the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), by the year 2020, 61 million Americans over the age of 50 will have low bone mass and 14 million of those people will have osteoporosis (5). Those numbers are so startling considering the fact that the disease is so preventable and treatable. Getting enough calcium in a person's diet should not be hard to do. Calcium is the fifth most abundant element on the Earth (5). Calcium is present in many popular foods, but yet, most people with osteoporosis have a calcium deficiency in their bodies. Calcium is very important in preventing osteoporosis because the strength of our bones is determined by how much calcium is in the bone. If someone does not have enough calcium in their bones, then they will be more susceptible to breaking their bones because they are so weak. Vitamin D is a vitamin in the body that is very critical for proper growth and functioning of the body (5). The reason why Vitamin D is so essential in osteoporosis prevention is because it can increase calcium absorption by up to 65% and calcium is critical in bone strength (5). So getting enough calcium and vitamin D in our daily diet is a very easy first step towards preventing osteoporosis. Creating and maintaining an overall healthily lifestyle is another easy step towards preventing osteoporosis. A healthy lifestyle includes avoiding anti-nutrients such as caffeine, tobacco and alcohol. Anti-nutrients are things that don’t benefit the body in anyway and help rid the body of the good nutrients that they have and need (5). Although caffeine can help stimulate the body in various ways, it can also reduce the amount of calcium that is stored in the body. However, some research states that caffeine increases the amount of calcium that is lost in the urine (5). So, to be safe, instead of drinking a Coca-Cola, or coffee which helps to aid in the process of calcium loss, drink a glass of milk which will increase the amount of calcium to the bones and will help strengthen the bones. Alcohol works in a very similar way. Alcohol decreases the calcium
absorption in the body by damaging the intestinal tract, damaging the
liver which creates Vitamin D, and damaging the pancreas which helps
to digest the nutrients that are needed in the bones (5). Again, drink
a glass of milk instead of alcohol to help prevent osteoporosis and
increase bone strength. Lastly, by smoking, one can increase the risk
of many diseases such as osteoporosis. In women, especially, it is critical
to avoid smoking because it reduces the amount of estrogen that the
body produces which can lead to weak bones and greatly increases the
risk of osteoporosis (5). In short, it is best to avoid anti-nutrients
that help increase the risk of osteoporosis. When someone is diagnosed with osteoporosis, it is very treatable. The best way to increase bone mass in the body is to exercise (4). Like preventing osteoporosis, it is critical to the treatment process. Of course it is really important to start slowly. When one has osteoporosis or weak bones, it is makes it very easy to get injured. There are two ways to exercise that will strengthen the bones in the body with someone with osteoporosis (5). The first way is by weight-bearing exercises, the second is resistance exercise. And the best way to start slowly with those two methods is to join a gym. Join a gym where there is supervision with the weight training and someone can walk through the exercise routine that would be most beneficial to treating osteoporosis. At a gym, there is equipment that helps with the weight-bearing exercises that crucial to increasing bone mass. As stated earlier, this includes activities such walking, jogging or any sports that involves standing on the feet. At a gym, there is also resistance exercise which applies weight (resistance) to the muscles. Increasing muscles strength is important for several reasons because strong muscles keep the body strong which helps keep the body from falling over, and it helps to increase the minerals that are needed to keep the bones strong. Some of the best resistances exercises are weight training with machines or free-weight training (1). For this, it is critical to have proper supervisor because having heavy stresses on the body can be dangerous to the bones in the body. An example of this is at a local gym, the Gainesville Health and Fitness Center of Gainesville, Florida offers a special osteoporosis treatment program. They offer special assistance for people with osteoporosis and have a specialized workout plan for the members with osteoporosis. The supervision that they offer and the various exercises designed especially for members with osteoporosis help to treat several of their members with the disease. Along with exercising, it is very important to create a healthy lifestyle. However, this may be similar to the steps for preventing osteoporosis, it is also different. There are several things that people with osteoporosis cannot do, like smoking excessively drinking and having too much caffeine. But in addition to that, now people who have full blown osteoporosis must now avoid certain basic, but risky movements. Risky movements include any forward bending movements, twisting movements, reaching overhead and putting pressure on the spine, and high-impact activities (1). Such activities include abdominal crunches, putting heavy things on high shelves, twisting the body by turning around to look at something behind. Movements that should be practiced are movements that require the body to stretch and have very little weight-bearing requirements. Keeping the bones strong and healthy is very important in helping people live strong and healthy lives. With osteoporosis, it is very easy to prevent and treat weak bones. If more people were to start taking the four easy steps to preventing osteoporosis, then maybe not as many people would be dying from injuries related to osteoporosis. These easy steps are to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle, get regular checkups, eat a healthy diet full of Vitamin D and calcium, and lastly exercise. Treating osteoporosis is just as important and can be just as easy. Those steps also include living a healthy lifestyle and exercising. Osteoporosis can be a deadly disease, but remember it can be a 100% preventable and a 100% treatable. Overall, the best treatment for osteoporosis is prevention (2). So get started!
References 1. Hodgson, Stephen (2003). Mayo Clinic on Osteoporosis. Kensington Publishing Corporation: New York, New York. 2. Lamichhane, AP (2005). Osteoporosis - an update. Retrieved 04/2006 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&lists_uids=16568580&query_hl=l&itool=pubmed_docsum 3. National Institutes of Health Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center (2000). Fast Facts on Osteoporosis. Retrieved 04/2006 from http://www.niams.nih.gov/bone/hi/ff_osteoporosis.htm 4. Palmer, Melissa (2004). The Benefits of Exercise for Osteoporosis. Retrieved 04/2006 from http://liverdisease.com/exercise_hepatitis.html 5. Root, Leon, & Sargent, Betty (2004). Beautiful Bones Without Hormones. Gotham Books: New York, New York. 6. Osteoporosis Exercise. Retrieved
04/2006 from http://www.ctds.info/osteoporosis-exercise.html
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