Your body changes as you age, and your bones are no exception. It's important for seniors to be aware of their bone health and protect themselves against fractures and other bone problems. In order to defend your bones, you have to understand how they work and what they need. Here are some facts about your bones that will help you understand how bones work and the importance of keeping them healthy.
You're Still Growing
Your bones don't stop growing when you reach adulthood. They are actually in a constant state of flux as your body makes new bone cells and replaces old ones. This process slows considerably as you age but never stops completely. In your youth, this bone renewal cycle created more bone than you lost, making your bones more dense. After 30, however, the process slowed. Your body now makes less bone and will ultimately produce less than what you have lost. This decreases your bone density and can create brittle bones. Nevertheless, your body is still producing new bone cells and you can help it do so with proper nutrition.
Breaks Can Be Deadly
Seniors who break a hip are likely to find their world altered and are at an increased risk of death. One in five people who break a hip die within a year and one in three are no longer able to live independently after a hip fracture. While the break itself is not
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Osteoporosis is one such silent disease, often going undetected until a bone breaks. The silent nature of bone issues makes it important to understand your risk factors. Both men and women can suffer from brittle bones, but the problem is far more prevalent in post-menopausal women. Whites and Asians are more likely to be at risk, as are those whose relatives have suffered broken bones as seniors. Some diseases and medications can weaken your bones, so make sure you understand any health problems you have and the medications you
Osteoporosis comes from the latin word meaning “porous bone”. If you were to look closely at a bone you could see there are these small spaces on the bone which is good, now if you look at someone who suffers from osteoporosis you will see these spaces are much larger. As these spaces become larger it takes away from the strength and integrity of the bone making it grow weak and thin. Osteoporosis is most common in women over the age of 50 and gives them a higher risk of fractures and or breaks especially common in the hips. While we know osteoporosis comes from a number of things it can be broken down to age, the hormonal changes most commonly seen in menopause and a lower intake of Vitamin D and Calcium. Age is the unpreventable factor that doctors or you cannot change. Hormonal changes can be fixed with supplements or hormone therapy along with ones intake of Vitamin D and Calcium. Hormone therapy, estrogen alone or the combination of estrogen and progestin have been proven to prevent and aide in the treatment of osteoporosis in
Dear Aunt Sally, as woman reach menopause, the estrogen in their body rapidly declines. Our bones are constantly remolding themselves all through life. As estrogen is a necessary hormone in bone development, the onset of menopause and subsequent loss of estrogen can be catastrophic for our skeletal system. The bone loss starts off as Osteopenia.
When new bone is not being readily produced or the body is reabsorbing too much old bone causes osteoporosis. During this time bone remodeling is not occurring when the bone becomes damaged. Lack of bone remodeling causes the bone to continue to breakdown. This breakdown may cause stress and fractures.
Risk factors for falls in older people in nursing homes and hospitals. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of gerontology & geriatrics, 56(3), 407-415. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2012.12.006
There are many different diseases that can affect our skeletal system and Osteoporosis is one of them. Osteoporosis lessens bone strength and bone density (amount of bone mineral in bone tissue), which will lead to fragile bones. It mainly affect the hips, ribs, spine, and wrists. Male or female, at any age, can get this but it is mostly occurs in older women (Team, 2016). Osteoporosis is very common, there are more than 3 million cases a year. There are many causes/risk factors, symptoms, and some treatment cases. About 54 million Americans have Osteoporosis and low bone mass (Foundation, 2016).
Osteoporosis is a condition, in which bones are weak from deterioration, loss of bone mass, and quality bone strength. Osteoporosis usually triggers postmenopausal women (women who have not had their period for a whole year), or older men and women. Some risks both older men and women endure when experiencing osteoporosis are decreased calcium and bone fractures. These symptoms or effects can all be caused by weight loss, smoking, age, ethnicity, genetics, medications, bone structure, and certain diseases that can later on contribute to osteoporosis, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoporosis may be prevented by going to drug therapy to stop alcoholism and smoking, a sufficient amount of calcium intake, and exercising such as jogging, walking, and aerobics.
More than 20 million people in the united states are affected by osteoporosis disease every year. Furthermore, Osteoporosis leads to about 1.5 million fractures in this country every year ("Celebrate World Osteoporosis Day, 2016). Osteoporosis is a common disease where people lose bone density faster than normal. This disease causes the bone to become weak and brittle which leads to fractures of the spine, hip, and wrist from a simple fall or even a sneeze or a cough. Osteoporosis usually does not have any symptoms and goes undetected until a fracture occurs. This silent disease can impact any gender, but it affects more women than men especially after menopause. Osteoporosis occurs when more
Other common symptoms are gum diseases, tooth decay, premature graying of hair, arthritis low back pain, leg cramps, nail growth. Fragility fracture occurs when a person falls from a standing position or a low height and breaks a bone that would not break in a person with a healthy bone. Heritability of bone mass estimated to account for 60-90% of its variance (Kaczkowsi, 2013). Osteoporosis risk factors can change, and others cannot be altered the factors that cannot change are sex, race and ethnicity for example Asian and Caucasian have a higher risk of Osteoporosis than African American and Hispanic women, age, and genetic factors. Risk factors that can change are low sex hormone levels, eating disorders, depression, low intake in calcium and vitamin D, getting the right amount of exercise, and
A fall is a lethal event that results from an amalgamation of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors which predispose an elderly person to the incident (Naqvi et al 2009). The frequency of hospital admission due to falls for older people in Australia, Canada, UK and Northern Ireland range from 1.6 to 3.0 per 10 000 population (WHO 2012). The prevalence of senior citizen’s falls in acute care settings varies widely and the danger of falling rises with escalating age or frailty. Falls of hospitalized older adults are one of the major patient safety issues in terms of morbidity, mortality, and decreased socialization (Swartzell et al. 2013). Because the multi-etiological factors contribute to the incidence and severity of falls in older society, each cause should be addressed or alleviated to prevent patient’s injuries during their hospital stay (Titler et al. 2011). Therefore, nursing interventions play a pivotal role in preventing patient injury related to hospital falls (Johnson et al. 2011). Unfortunately, the danger of falling rises with age and enormously affect one third of older people with ravages varying from minimal injury to incapacities, which may lead to premature death (Johnson et al. 2011). In addition, to the detrimental impacts on patient falls consequently affect the patient’s family members, care providers, and the health organization emotionally as well as financially (Ang et al. 2011). Even though falls in hospital affect young as well as older patients, the aged groups are more likely to get injured than the youth (Boltz et al. 2013). Devastating problems, which resulted from the falls, can c...
Osteoporosis is one of the main types of bone diseases that is more commonly developed in the adult years of men and women, but can also affect younger aged people too. This disease contributes to “…decrease bone mass, increased skeletal fragility, and an increased risk of fractures…” (Caple & Schub. 2014). Bones are constantly being replaced by new bone hence it is living tissue. Osteoporosis eventually occurs when new bone has failed to be developed. In Canada, “1.5 million Canadians 40 years of age or older (10%) reported having been diagnosed with osteoporosis, of which, women were 4 times more likely to report having osteoporosis than men” (“What is the impact,” 2010). Women are at greater risk then men because the hormone changes in women can affect the bone density. Estrogen is essential for bone density but after menopause the levels fall resulting in bone loss. On the other hand, the cause for men is still unknown. However, testosterone: the male hormone helps to keep bones healthy. Even though men still produce the male hormone at an old age, there is still a risk of osteoporosis because the levels have dropped. Occasionally bone loss occurs without any cause, and later realizing that it is a silent theif when you ultimately develop symptoms (“Osteoporosis – Review,” 2014). In most instances osteoporosis is preventable, even though it is not reversible and harmful disease.
This Preusser (2008) case study involves a 75 year old female, S.P., who fell at home and is admitted to the orthopedic ward for an intracapsular fracture of the hip at the femoral neck (p. 183). Assessment data includes her height is 5’3”, weight is 118 lbs, blood pressure...
Fractures are life-threatening to aged people having the metabolic bone disease OSTEOPOROSIS, in which bones become porous and brittle. A person, mostly women, having osteoporosis may break a hip during a fall and possibly die from complications. Birth Defects Congenital bone diseases constitute a wide spectrum, ranging from the unimportant--for instance, mild bow legs--to severe lesions, such as spina bifida, in which the lower end of the spine fails to develop properly and the baby is born with paralysis and misshapen vertebrae. Congenital diseases may have hormonal bases: for example, fibrous DYSPLASIA, in which fibrous tissue replaces that of some bones, often results in bone deformity; in addition, some girls with this disease physically mature so early that they are capable of pregnancy and childbirth at the age of seven.
There are many identifiable risk factors that are both modifiable, and non-modifiable. The gender of the patient is a major risk factor, as women are more likely to develop osteoporosis. Of the almost 50 million Americans diagnosed with osteoporosis, 80% are women. Females at any age have less bone density than males, but in the mid-30's women experience bone loss at a rate of 1% each year (Berarducci, 2008). Walker (2010) adds to the previous statistics, citing around one out of three women over the age of fifty will have a fracture related to osteoporosis, compared to one in 12 men.
Steps that you can take to reduce the chances of getting osteoporosis is consuming at least 3 portions of milk and dairy produce that have reduced fat content. You should also choose vegetables that are high in calcium such as broccoli and cabbage. Another recommendation is try to moderate the amount of alcohol you intake because alcohol can affect the liver which is important with using vitamin D in your body. You should also try to watch how much coffee and soft drinks that you consume a day because they can decrease the amount of calcium absorption which can cause bone loss. You should try to avoid eating lot of salty foods because they can cause your body to lose calcium from the sodium that is within it which can lead to bone loss. Other factors that can help you avoid getting osteoporosis is getting enough physical exercise such as sports and working out because that can improve strengthening your bones, eating fish such as salmon and at least once a week and eating vegetables and fruits at least five times daily because they help get the different nutrients that your body needs to keep it healthy. Smoking also can cause bones to become brittle because it affects your bone density but also affects your lungs which makes it harder to breath which can also can make them to do less physical activities and can also cause them to have poor
Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become so weak and brittle that even a cough can cause enough stress on the bone that it will cause the bone to facture. The most commonly broken bones are the hip, wrist, and the spine. Although it affects men and women of all races, post-menopausal Caucasian and Asian women are more commonly affected than those of other ethnicities and sexes. In fact, thirty percent of all post-menopausal women in the US and Europe will be diagnosed with Osteoporosis and at least 40 percent of those will suffer from a fracture in their lifetime.