The first thing you should know about osteoporosis is that it is a common old-age disease of bone due to which bones become more vulnerable to fractures. Bone loss is characterized by a decrease in bone density due to the excessively rapid loss of bone substance and structure.
The increased susceptibility to fracture concerns the whole skeleton. Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease in old age. Most of the cases of osteoporosis are primary. This means that in these cases osteoporosis symptoms do not occur as a result of another illness in contrast to the second type. In most cases, postmenopausal women are affected by it. About 30% women are diagnosed with clinically significant osteoporosis after menopause. Secondary cases are not found so often and if found then these are caused by treatment with glucocorticoids. A long time is required to be spent in immobilization state to cure these diseases. Various kinds of osteoporosis treatments are available in the market but if you take early preventive measures then it is best as you do not need to face any problem at all.
Osteoporosis Symptoms
Osteoporosis mainly occurs in old age. Various types of bone fractures help to detect the disease. Osteoporosis treatments should be started as early as possible. Common osteoporosis symptoms are bone fractures. Some of the common ones sorted by frequency are as follows:
- Intrusions in vertebrae region
- Fractures around hip and thigh
- Around wrist broken spokes
- Humerus fracture (sub capital humerus fracture)
- Fracture in the pelvis
- Increased susceptibility to fractures at other skeleton sites
Osteoporosis Treatments
Osteoporosis is also called as a life style disease. Thus steps need to be taken to change certain parts of your lifestyle aspects. Physical activity protects against bone loss. Also, it stimulates sufficient sunlight to enhance vitamin D production in the skin. Thus it is important to exercise. Increased calcium intake might help to protect against this disease. Taking vitamin D is a recommended treatment guideline. Heavy alcohol and tobacco have to be avoided. Vitamin K increases antagonists although it is required for maturing matrices. Taking vitamin K may or may not have any positive effect but there is no evidence of it. In this regard, there is also no qualitative study. While all evidence-based guidelines suggest the intake of vitamin D and calcium there are no recommendations regarding vitamin K intake.
Bisphosphonate zoledronic acid has been used by people of Europe since October 2007 as a drug for treating osteoporosis symptoms in postmenopausal women and since September 2008 as a treatment for men. It is used as an infusion which should be taken once in a year. The pure infusion takes about 15 minutes. In preparing the current guidelines for osteoporosis this approval was not yet available. A few new osteoporosis treatments options have also been developed like denosumab. This monoclonal antibody has to be injected under the skin once every six months.
