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Preventing osteoporosis: do you have the strength?

key ingredients in preventing osteoporosis

My Favorite Web Sites

the National Osteoporosis Foundation
your medical source online
Osteoporosis Society of Canada

3E


The Dos and Don'ts for osteoporosis prevention!

good things to do for prevention
Exercising is one of the most important things you can do to help prevent and even reduce the symptoms of osteoporosis. Exercising on a regular basis builds up your bones and muscles. It does not take high intensity exercise to make a difference. Any little thing you can do will help. Even if it is just walking a couple times around a chair. If you do it at least 3 times a week for 20 minutes it will drastically improve your odds agains osteoporosis.

The next most important thing that you can activly persue is a healthy diet. Eating enough fruits and veggies will not only make you body healthy it also makes your bones healthy.

Calcium plays a big factor in how strong your bones are. So when you were a child and you mom said drink your milk for strong bones she wasn't joking. An average bone looks like the one on the left which is compact and full of the white material. The bone with osteoporosis is on the right. You can see how weak and fragile the bone with osteoporosis looks. It has big black spaces which in just hollow space making it very easy to break and fracture.

By drinking milk or taking calcium supplements it helps to rebuild that white spiderweb looking material. The white is the calcium with other minerals that make your bones strong
Men don't think that you are not eligible for osteoporosis. 30% of hip fractures from osteoporosis happen to men and men have a higher mortality rate after fracture. Low testostrone levels in men are one of the biggest factors for getting osteoporosis. To prevent osteoporosis men can do the same things as women. They can exercise on a regular basis, take enough calcium, but as an added preventor they can take testostrone inhancers and bone strengtheners.
bad things to do
One of the worst things you can do if you are trying to prevent osteoporosis is to drink alcohol and/or smoke tobacco. Alcohol and tobacco actually limit the amount of calcium and estrogen your bones can take in. If your bones are taking in less and less calcium they are going to get very weak and break or fracture more often

Giving up is something else that is bad for prevention of osteoporosis. No matter how much you think you are helpless you are not. There are exercise programs that specifically target people with osteoporosis. One of these is called osteofit it is designed for women with osteoporosis that are afraid to exercise. It just does the basics to regain balance and a normal walk. There are so many simple things that you can do to help prevent osteoporosis. Think of your self as a skeleton. Would you want to be afraid to walk in public because you might fall down and break yourself. It is the same thing now. The skeleton inside of you needs attention just the same as the outside of you. You wouldn't think of not taking a shower for a month so why would you not give your bones the strenght and nuitrents they deserve. This way your skeleton can be happy and you can experience and enjoy the good things in life.

Another thing to think about is that if you do not try to help and prevent osteoporosis you will not be able to stand up straight and enjoy the things you used to do.


references | Osteoporosis self assesment quiz | FAQ presented by Ostex | my animated story about osteoporosis


Hip fractures from osteoporosis cost Americans 27 million dollars a day so do your part and prevent it before it starts.

Much of my research for this website was from three different articles. I used these articles to get well acquanted with the subject matter and issues at hand. All three of my articles used surveys for most of their participant’s information. A survey was conducted on age, gender, race, and overall health as a prerequisite for the studies. Two of my studies used community dwelling people over the age of 65. One study used 83 white males and the other 79 females of different races. My third study used 2,325 women ages 50 and up. Both of the community dwelling males and community dwelling females had about the same amount of participants which made the results similar. All of my research articles tested for body mass index (BMI) as well as age, race, and gender. They all analyzed how physically active the participants were on a weekly basis. My article done by Carter included tests for static balance (standing), dynamic balance(walking), and knee extension strength because they are examining the effects of exercise on osteoporosis. They produced a ten week strength and balance exercise program. Which I mention above called Osteofit. The women in this program had a set regiment of exercise that they would do everyday to see if exercise reduced the risk of fracture. My article done by Kenny tests for testosterone levels and bone mineral density as well as markers of bone turnover in men. Kenny and associates were interested in these measurements because they are trying to find predictors related to the testosterone levels in men. Turner used surveys to assess the mothers osteoporosis diagnosis and hip fracture status. They examined the women’s smoking status, alcohol use, and dairy product use in hopes to find a predictor for fractures. All of these methods may be different in form and testing but they all have investigated the same question, whether it is possible to see signs of osteoporosis and if it is possible to change the risks. We found that it is possible to reduce the risk and it isn't even a difficult process.

In all of the studies we found similar results. They all had portions of them that could accurately find predictors for osteoporosis. They all stated that white women are the most at risk for osteoporosis and fractures. Black women have on average at all ages 5-10 percent more bone mass than a white person. Hispanics also have more bone mass than white women. All studies show that a regular low impact exercise is a healthy and smart way to avoid weak muscles and bones that will cause falls and fractures. My study done by Turner and Associates found that age, race, mother’s hip fracture status, Body mass index, activity level of two or more times per week, smoking, and dairy product use were all significant predictors for fracture with p values of .005-.001. A P Value is one way to see how close to perfect they numbers are. If you have a P value smaller then .005 then you are with in 5/1,000ths of where you want to be. This shows that older white women who are underweight and inactive, and that had mothers with hip fractures where the most at risk. They also found that people that smoked were more at risk of osteoporotic fractures. Age was the strongest determinant in risk factors followed by race, activity level, and then low BMI levels. Kenny and associates found that the males in the study had a higher level of estrone than postmenopausal women. They found the main predictors were bioavailable testosterone, BMI, and physical activity. Bioavailable testostrone is the amount of testostrone in the body. These measurements were the only ones left after running a test to decrease the amount of problems. Carter and associates researched exercise and found that a ten week exercise program was a safe and effective way to gain strength and balance but with the short length they were not able to conclude to any exact factors for osteoporosis and risk of falling. They did state that if the program went longer that they believe a statistically significant improvement in the reduction of risk factors would happen. All of the research reports concluded that physical activity level was a very important predictor for fracture. Age, race, and BMI were next on the list of predictors.