Osteoporosis Research Paper

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is commonly known disease for fragile bones that can break easily and tends to happen with the elderly. For example you could be doing something so easy as bending over to pick something up and cause breakage. Typically the wrist, hip, or spine are what happen to be the most commonly broken bones when it come to this disease. It also affects both genders, not just one or the other. Studies have shown the elderly White and Asian women seem to have the greatest risk for getting the disease.

Bone is constantly being broken down and replaced because it is a living tissue, so when the creation of the newer bone isn't keeping up Osteoporosis happens. Most people by their 20s have reached their highest bone mass, so

when you start to age the bone mass is lost faster than being created. It also depends on how much bone mass you gain in your childhood, so if in your childhood you have a greater bone mass, the more bone you have, and the less likely you will develop Osteoporosis as you get older through the years.

Such as estrogen and testosterone are sex hormones that have a role in maintaining bone strength in both men and women.

During menopause the fall in estrogen occurs, resulting in great bone loss. The average woman loses up to 10 percent of her total body bone mass the first five years after menopause.

Osteoporosis can lead to not so painless fractures in the spine. It can also lead to loss of height and changes in your posture. One example would be the dowager's hump, which happens when the spinal fractures are squeezed together due to the force of gravity, resulting in a unusual bending forward of the spine called kyphosis.

Studies have shown that in the early stages of bone loss you really can't find any symptoms. Once the bones start to become weaker is when you might notice symptoms such as back pain, which is caused by a crackage or fallen

vertebra.

According to studies bone density is by lifestyle and that equals twenty percent, so the other eighty percent is determined by heredity.

Your bone density can be measured by a machine that uses low levels of X-rays. The low level X-rays should determine the quantity of mineral in your bones. It's a painless test where you lie on a padded table as a scanner passes over your body. In most cases, usually the hip, wrist or spine are checked. The bone density is a test that you might have to do. It tells whether or not you might be apt to break a bone in the next 10 years or so. If your test comes out with a high risk that you might break a bone in the next 10 years you might be put on medication. If your test comes out with not a high risk of you breaking a bone your treatment might not include medication, but instead might focus on lifestyle, safety and modifying risk factors for bone loss.

Both men and women can be at an increased risk fracture when they have this disease so a commonly known medication is bisphosphonates may help, but some side effects may include nausea, abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, and the risk of an inflamed esophagus or esophageal ulcers. For women soon after they reach menopause estrogen may be available for them to take estrogen to maintain their bone density, but they have to be bone healthy patients because the estrogen therapy may increase their risks of blood clots, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, or possibly heart

disease.

Osteoporosis may be linked with a gradual age-related loss in testosterone levels in men. Also osteoporosis medications have been greater studied in men with osteoporosis and are suggested alone or in addition to testosterone, therefor testosterone replacement therapy can help greater bone density.
Image result for osteoporosis

Starting with the picture on the left and moving right. The picture farthest on the left represents how your posture can be affected over the years with this disease. The next picture shows the most three common factures that you may get with this disease. The third picture shows the differences between healthy bone and osteoporosis bone. The last picture shows what the bone density test would like.

Works Cited

"Osteoporosis." - Mayo Clinic. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.

"Osteoporosis - Better Health Channel." Better Health Channel. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.

"Osteoporosis: Diagnosis & Tests." WebMD. WebMD. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.