What Causes Osteoporosis?
There are two organs in the body that can rebuild themselves - the liver and bone. Bone is constantly being "broken" and repaired within the body. When we are young, our bone building cells are working faster than our bone cleaning cells, which causes us to grow and build bone. As we reach our late 20's to early 30's, this process slows down and the cleaning and building functions work at an even pace. As we get older, the cleaning cells start to take away more than the building cells can replace, which results in an overall bone loss. Some bone loss is normal as we age; however, Osteoporosis patients experience a greater than normal loss of bone.
Bone loss begins as women move toward midlife and menopause and overall,
women lose about one-
third of their bone density between menopause and age 80. Men also experience
bone loss with aging, but bone loss usually occurs more slowly in men
than in women. However, one third of all hip fractures caused by osteoporosis
occur in men.
Bone loss is a natural part of aging in all people but when it is severe,
bones become fragile and at risk for fracture. The two most common sites
for osteoporotic fracture are the hip and the vertebrae of the spine.
Bone loss may actually increase with advancing age. This increase in bone
loss may partially explain the increased risk of fractures in the elderly.
Click on the topics listed to the left to learn more about the risk factors for Osteoporosis as well as prevention measures and treatment options.