Paris Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is proud to offer a Bone Health Clinic for patients living with osteoporosis. The experts at the Bone Health Clinic strive to identify risk factors for osteoporosis, reduce overall fracture risk, accelerate healing, and prevent subsequent fractures by breaking the fragility fracture cycle. If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or fear you may be at risk, you may benefit from a visit with our experts.
What is Osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis is a bone disease that occurs when the body loses too much bone, doesn’t make enough bone or a combination of both. Bones become weak, fragile and are easily broken from falls, sneezing, minor injury or even no injury at all. It is the most common type of bone disease.
Bone loss occurs gradually over the years, usually starting after the age of 30 to 35. The holes and spaces in bone become much larger causing a decrease in density and mass. This process causes bones to weaken, become less supportive, and be more likely to break. Many times a person will have a fracture before becoming aware that the disease is present. By the time a fracture occurs the disease is in its’ advanced stages and damage can be severe.
What risk factors increase the onset of osteoporosis?
- The leading risk factor is menopause in women and low testosterone in men
- Being confined to a bed, wheelchair, or inactive lifestyle
- Vitamin D deficiency, low calcium diet
- Hyperparathyroidism, hypogonadism, and other endocrine disorders
- Rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease, eating disorders
- Long term medication use (seizure medication, steroids for longer than 3 months)
- Family history of osteoporosis
- Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
- Adults who have been treated for breast or prostate cancer
- Gastric or intestinal surgeries (gastric sleeve, banding, bypass)
Who gets Osteoporosis?
One out of two women and one out of four men aged 50 and older will develop an osteoporotic fracture. A person is twice as likely to have a second fracture if they are osteoporotic. In the US, 10 million adults have osteoporosis and an additional 33.6 million have low bone mass (osteopenia).
Why is it important to treat Osteoporosis?
- Osteoporosis caused two million broken bones and resulted in health care costs of $19 billion dollars last year.
- Morbidity and mortality of a hip fracture:
- 80% – patients with restricted activity such as driving and shopping
- 40% – patients unable to walk independently
- 30% – patients who will have permanent disability requiring long term care
- 20% – patient who will die within one year of fracture
- Hip fracture is followed by a 2.5 fold increase of future fracture risk
- Patients with a vertebral fracture have a five-fold increase in their risk of future spine fracture and two fold increased risk of hip fracture.
Symptoms
There are none! This is a silent disease until the later stages. Usually the first indication is a fracture. Other symptoms occurring late in the disease include bone pain, fractures with little or no trauma, loss of height, back pain due to spinal fractures, stooped posture.
How do we treat Osteoporosis?
- Vitamins: calcium and Vitamin D
- Physical activity:
- Weight bearing activity
- This is not necessarily exercise
- 30 minutes daily (can be divided, but must be at least 5 minutes duration)
- No required level of exertion, no sweating required
- Weight bearing IS required (this means you have to be standing on your legs and moving, standing still does not count). This is not weight lifting.
- Examples of weight bearing activities: walking, dancing, running, ellipitical, aerobics. (Swimming and biking are NON weight bearing and do not build bone)
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Muscle strengthening Exercising and Flexibility
- These exercises do not necessarily help you build bone, but they do help you protect your bones by preventing your risk of falling.
- Lifting weights
- Weight machines
- Lifting your body weight
- Yoga, pilates, tai chi: improve strength, balance and flexibility. Certain positions may be unsafe for people with bone loss especially in the spine (forward bending)
- Weight bearing activity
- Lifestyle modification: STOP smoking, avoid excessive alcohol.
- Fracture Prevention: good footwear (no high heels, flip flops, backless shoes), no climbing (step stools, ladders, chairs), pick up rugs, use an assistive device especially in public or in crowds.
- Medications:
- Antiresorptive Medications (Fosamax, Boniva, Reclast, Actonel, Prolia): These medications slow bone loss that occurs during the bone remodeling cycle and stop you from losing bone as quickly. The goal of these medications is to prevent further bone loss. Sometimes these medications are stopped prior to surgery or delayed in starting after a fracture due to a slight risk of delayed bone healing.
- Anabolic Medications (Forteo): This medication increases the rate of bone formation and the goal of treatment is to build new bone. It is sometimes used off label for hard to heal fractures or to build bone around joint replacements or prior to some spinal surgeries.
- Hormone Replacement: Estrogen is used rarely and only in very specific young osteoporotic patients. Estrogen and estrogen like medications act as an anti-resorptive to prevent future bone loss.
Learn More About Paris Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
If you are suffering from osteoporosis, schedule an appointment with the Paris Orthopedic Bone Health Clinic today. Our experts are committed providing diagnosis, treatment and education for the primary and secondary prevention of osteoporosis. Contact our office or visit The National Osteoporosis Foundation for more information.
