Women are four times as likely as men to develop osteoporosis. In addition, the older a person is, the greater their chance is of getting osteoporosis: Menopause increases the chance of osteoporosis. Caucasian and Asian women as well as women who have small bones or are underweight are most likely to develop osteoporosis.

What Is It?

Osteoporosis causes bones to become brittle and, therefore, they break easily. One of the most difficult aspects of the disease is that it often progresses painlessly until a bone breaks. The breaks that lead to the discovery of osteoporosis often take place in the most dangerous places such as the hip, spine, or wrist. Hip fractures almost always require hospitalization and major surgery. Spinal breaks can cause many long-term problems as well.

Prevention

One of the best ways a person can prevent the onset of osteoporosis is to make sure they get enough calcium and vitamin D. National surveys show that most women only get half the amount of calcium they need. Therefore, women should consider calcium supplements. Supplements with vitamin D in them help the body to absorb more of the calcium.

Medications

There are several medications that are currently being used to treat osteoporosis. Bisphosphonates, calcitonin, estrogens, and raloxifene are all types of anti-resorptive medications. Bone remodeling (which is an important part of healing osteoporosis) consists of two phases.

The first is bone resorption. When this takes place, cells on the surface of a bone dissolve bone tissue and create small cavities. The second phase is bone formation. During this stage other cells fill the new bone cavities with fresh bone tissue.

Osteoporosis is caused by an imbalance in the bone remolding cycle: bone resorption takes place more quickly than bone formation and as a result bones are broken down rather than built. Anti-resorptive medications slow the bone-resorbing portion of bone remolding, but they do not affect the bone formation process. This allows new bones to form.

Exercise

People who are taking medication for osteoporosis should also engage in weight-bearing exercise in order to strengthen the muscles around their bones. They should also avoid smoking and drinking. Checking in with a doctor and having frequent bone density tests to make sure the medicine is effective is important.