What is osteoporosis? What you need to know

What is osteoporosis? Is osteoporosis a normal sign of ageing? Does osteoporosis only affect women? Here's the truth: What you don't know about osteoporosis may hurt you.

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a common disease that weakens bones. As it does your risk of sudden and unexpected fractures goes up. Osteopenia is the forerunner of osteoporosis. It is a silent but destructive condition that robs bones during a woman's - even a young woman's - most productive time.

No matter what your age or sex, osteoporosis and osteopenia can affect you. Your bones might seem sturdy now. You may be very active and doing the things you want to do, but osteoporosis and osteopenia are quiet, accomplished thieves. There are usually no visible signs. You may notice a loss of height or a dowager's hump over time. However chances are good the first sign that you have one of these conditions will be a painful fracture.

What is osteoporosis bone loss?

The bone loss with osteoporosis occurs over many years and is severe. It's so severe that the normal stress on bones from sitting, standing, coughing or even hugging a loved one can result in painful fractures and immobility. After the first fracture, you are at risk for more fractures. These future fractures may cause you to live with daily chronic pain. They can cause you disability. They may rob you of your independence.

That's why it's important to learn all you can about osteoporosis and osteopenia. Then you can take immediate steps to keep your bones strong. That way you can prevent bone loss and painful fractures.

What are osteoporosis symptoms?

Osteoporosis often progresses without symptoms or pain. Losing height may be noticeable or a dowager's hump may develop with age. However a doctor usually diagnoses osteoporosis after a painful fracture occurs.

That fracture is usually in the back, wrist or hip. Painful fractures are debilitating and disfiguring. They can result in loss of mobility and independence.

What is osteopenia?

Osteopenia is the forerunner of osteoporosis. With osteopenia, there are no warning signs until you fracture a bone. If it isn't diagnosed and isn't treated, osteopenia can lead directly to osteoporosis. With osteoporosis, your bones become thin, weaker and fracture easily.

The good news is if you are diagnosed with osteoporosis, you can get treatments. Those osteoporosis treatments can slow bone loss, increase the amount of bone you have and lower your chances of fractures. However there's no reason to wait until you can't reverse how weak your bones have become. Detecting osteopenia with a bone density test is easy. From there making a plan to prevent disfiguring and painful fractures is simple.

Why is there so much concern about osteopenia?

If you're wondering why osteopenia has become such a topic of concern for younger and middle-aged women, consider this. Years ago, people didn't think it was important to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). They didn't think it was important because there were no obvious consequences. However we now know that treating high blood pressure in the present lowers the risk of stroke years later.