Osteoporosis Treatment Services
Osteoporosis is a condition where your bones become weak and thin, so they can break more easily. Think of your bones like a sponge—when you're healthy, the sponge is thick and strong. With osteoporosis, it becomes full of holes and more fragile.
This increases the risk of fractures, particularly in the hips, spine, and wrists. It’s often called a “silent disease” because bone loss occurs without symptoms, such as pain or discomfort, until a fracture happens.
Causes and Risk Factors
Aging: Bone density naturally decreases with age.
Hormonal changes: Especially in women, decreased estrogen after menopause gives rise to a much higher incidence of osteoporosis after menopause.
Dietary deficiencies: Lack of calcium and vitamin D.
Sedentary lifestyle: Weight-bearing exercises help build and maintain bone strength.
Smoking & alcohol use: Excessive smoking or alcohol can weaken bones.
Medical conditions & medications: Such as long-term corticosteroids, thyroid disorders, or hormonal deficiencies.
Symptoms
There are often no symptoms at all due to Osteoporosis. This is why the condition is known as a “Silent Disaese”.
- Pain starts when a person sustains complications due to Osteoporosis, such as a spine vertebra fracture, a wrist fracture, or a hip fracture.
- Progressive loss of height or an increasingly stooped posture over time are gradual symptoms of Osteoporosis.
- In particular, it is common that a spine vertebra fracture may occur even without a fall or injury.
- Screening is an important way of picking up osteoporosis and instituting treatment early, before complications occur.
Diagnosis of Osteoporosis
- Bone Mineral Density Scan: A proper BMD Scan is the most accurate way of diagnosing Osteoporosis. This is a 5-minute scan where you lie on a table, and an open scanner moves over your body. It is not a tunnel-type scan and has very minimal radiation.
- Blood Tests: Blood tests are an important adjunct to check on Calcium and especially Vitamin D levels. Adequate Vitamin D levels are important for the body to properly absorb and integrate calcium into the bones. Otherwise, simply taking calcium alone without adequate Vitamin D levels will not help the bone. Blood tests are also important in cases where there is a need to check for secondary causes, such as thyroid problems or hormonal deficiencies.
Treatment for Osteoporosis
In milder cases of Osteoporosis, called Osteopenia, general treatment consisting of supplements, exercises and life-style changes may just maintain or slow the progress of bone weakening.
In established Osteoporosis or patients with fractures due to fragile bones, actual Osteoporosis medications may be required.
- Calcium and Vitamin D supplementation: Boosting levels of Calcium and Vitamin D can come from the diet or actual supplements. Good sources of calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese and leafy green vegetables and fortified foods. Vitamin D can be found naturally in fatty fish and egg yolks, and is often added to foods like breakfast cereals and milk.
- Exercise: Weight-bearing exercises such as lifting light-to-moderate weights in the gym help to provide axial loading forces on the bone and stimulate bone growth.
- Lifestyle changes: Stopping smoking, reducing alcohol intake, and getting 10 – 15 minutes of sunlight per day is always helpful for bones.
- Medications: There are several kinds of Osteoporosis medications, including oral medications and injection medications. Discuss with our specialist on the pros and cons of each type. While not necessarily a life-long treatment, osteoporosis treatment should generally be instituted for at least 4 to 5 years.
Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures
Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures, also known as Compression Fractures, are a common complication of osteoporosis. A patient with osteoporosis may sustain this due to a fall, or even due to minor increases in intra-thoracic pressure like sneezing and coughing. Sometimes, the presentation is a progressive kind where the patient’s back gradually gets more stooped over the years.
Acute cases of Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures can cause significant pain, and reduced mobility. While the traditional management of such fractures is conservative treatment with pain management and bedrest, the pain itself may be quite severe or take a long time to reduce. Such cases may benefit from a spinal injection procedure called Vertebroplasty. This procedure is done under a light sleep and involves inserting a long needle into the vertebral bone and injecting the fracture area with cement. The cement will solidify within the bone and supports the mechanical stability of the bone. Typically, this procedure immediately and markedly reduces the pain due to the vertebral fracture and allows a patient to return to mobility and daily living as soon as possible. This is especially important for the elderly where prolonged immobility invariably leads to muscle loss and other potential problems such as lung or urinary infections and skin sores.
