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How to Avoid Issues With Osteoporosis

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As our bodies age, there are a number of health concerns that people need to stay aware to avoid lengthy treatment and health complications. Over ten million people suffer from osteoporosis, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), and most of these sufferers are women. Women are twice as likely to have issues with bone density and osteoporosis than men. However, there are steps women can take to stay healthy, avoid developing the life-altering disease, and understand their health information.

Osteoporosis is a disease that literally means porous bones, and it affects bone density. The disease develops when bones lose critical nutrients, such as calcium and phosphorous. While the disease affects all the bones in the body, the bones most likely to break are hips, wrist, and spine.

Many people already suffer from the disease, but have no idea. Some of the warning signs that you may have osteoporosis include:

  • Fractures to the vertebrae, wrists, hips or other bones
  • Loss of height in conjunction with a stooped posture or other spinal deformity
  • Severe back pain from a collapsed vertebrae

Changes in hormones have a major influence on the possibility of osteoporosis, but there are other possible factors, such as bed confinement, thyroid issues, bone cancer, inadequate calcium or vitamin D intake, age, sex, and body size. There are medical treatments for osteoporosis, but it’s better to start early with preventative measures.

Here are some of the preventive measures that can help lower chance of osteoporosis.

Calcium/Vitamin D Intake

Changes the amount of nutrition in your diet to increase amounts of calcium and vitamin D. Taking a multivitamin also helps with the intake necessary to avoid this disease.

Weight-Bearing Exercise

This type of exercise, specifically jogging and walking, stimulates new bone growth and increases muscle mass, which protects bones against deterioration.

Other options are the following:

  • Add soy to your diet
  • Avoid caffeine
  • Limit alcohol and smoking
  • Hormone Therapy, for post-menopausal women

While these preventative measures are no guarantee that you won’t contract osteoporosis after you start to lose bone mass, around 30, they will help to lower your chances. Proper nutrition and exercise are key to avoid the pains of this disease.

Osteoporosis Risk Factors for Women

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bonesThere are a number of ailments that women are actually at risk for developing without actually realizing it. For example, osteoporosis risk factors for women are much more significant than for men in many situations.

Older women simply had to accept some things in the past, such as back pain, hunched backs and frailty, before doctors came to understand anything about osteoporosis. Now, however, there are a number of steps that girls and women can take in order to avoid these problems. Osteoporosis is threatening 44 million Americans, and 68% of these are women, according to reports by the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Osteoporosis is actually highly preventable, and has a lot to do with the behaviors that are developed by women during their childhood, as well as during their adolescence and into their early adult years as well. These behaviors can play a truly significant role in the disease and its development. This is because our bodies are building up most of their bone mass until we reach the age of 30, and this is the point where new bone is no longer forming, and the new focus is placed on simply maintaining the old bone. It is never too late to begin to work on keeping bones strong, avoiding the occurrence of fractures.

Your body is going to do whatever it can in order to repair damage to the bone, but you also have to be willing to provide the tools to make it happen, such as the adequate consumption of calcium, as well as weight-bearing types of physical activity.

The osteoporosis risk factors that can affect women can include:

  • Being a female, as females are much more likely than men to develop osteoporosis,
  • Increasing in age, as bone density begins to break down with age when not properly cared for,
  • Women that have small and thin-boned frames,
  • Ethnicity, as the women that have the greater risk are white women and women of Asian descent,
  • Family history of osteoporosis,
  • Issues and imbalances with sex hormones, such as estrogen loss as a result of menopause and infrequent menstrual periods and cycles, as both may increase your risk,
  • Experience with anorexia,
  • A diet that is low in vitamin D or calcium,
  • Using certain medications, including some anticonvulsant medications and particularly glucocorticoids.
  • Living a lifestyle that is particularly sedentary,
  • Smoking,
  • Excessive drinking of alcohol

If you think that you are at risk for developing osteoporosis, then it would be wise for you to talk with your doctor. Your doctor will be able to tell you what you can do in order to prevent issues in the future.