Complications of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become soft and fragile and break easily. A simple sneeze can cause a break in a person with osteoporosis. Women are four times as likely to have osteoporosis, but men too suffer with the disease. It is often a silent disease until a break or fracture occurs.

Significance

• Osteoporosis can cause bones in any part of the body to break at any moment for no cause. Most often the spine and the hip are affected-- the areas that support a person's weight and posture.

Hip Fractures

• Hip fractures are common in those with osteoporosis. Many require surgery and often result in complications including pneumonia and post-operation infections. Recovery is long and painful.

Vertebrae Fractures

• Often vertebrae-compression fractures occur in those with osteoporosis. These can occur when the bones have become weak, soft and fragile and are not caused by a fall or trauma to the body. This can result in the loss of several inches in height or a dowager's hump in the back.

Wrist Fractures

• Wrist and hand fractures are also common in osteoporosis patients. This can severely limit a person's daily activities and simple chores such as eating, bathing and dressing.

Walking

• Walking can become painful, limited or impossible. Hip and spine fractures can be not only debilitating but sometimes fatal.

Caution with New Drugs

• Many new drugs are available to treat osteoporosis, but some have serious side effects and are not tolerated well by all. Heart, joint and jaw problems have been reported. Get plenty of calcium through your diet, take calcium and vitamin D supplements, exercise and have a bone scan to prevent osteoporosis.