Osteoporosis May Have Significant Complications
August 23rd, 2011
Osteoporosis represents a significant global health problem. Once people pass age 50, one in every five men and one in two women sustain a fracture from osteoporosis at some point in life. Deaths related to the morbidity from osteoporotic fractures outnumber the sum of deaths from cancer of the cervix, ovaries, and uterus combined. Arizona Bioidentical hormones may help substantially.
There are 2 points in life that are crucial for bone formation or density loss. The first is during adolescence, which is a critical bone formation timeframe. The other one is when a high rate of bone loss occurs during advancing age or menopause. There are controllable factors such as nutrition, exercise, medications (like steroids), and smoking which can contribute to bone density substantially and be treated by naturopathic doctors arizona.
The definition of osteoporosis was established back in 1994 by the World Health Organization. Bone mineral density measurements are compared to what is known as “young normals” in the female population. If a person’s bone mineral density falls within 1 to 2 standard deviations of these “young normal” the condition is referred to as osteopenia. If it is over 2.5 standard deviations below the norm, it is referred to as osteoporosis.
From the 2000 Census results, we know that over 50 million US individuals suffer from either osteopenia or osteoporosis. Over 1.5 million broken bones from osteoporosis occur in America annually. Twenty percent of these fractures occur at the hip, 30% at the wrist, and 50% occur in the spine. Individuals in their fifties most commonly sustain wrist fractures. Once people reach their sixties, the spine is the most common location, and in the 70′s the hip becomes the most common site. Interestingly, the death rate after a hip fracture is twenty percent in the first year after the fracture. Over 50% of male people with hip fractures do not get back their walking status within the first year after sustaining a hip fracture, and unfortunately under 50% ever get back their pre-fracture ability to perform activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, eating, or grooming.
In vertebral fractures, repeated occurrence may produce an unnatural spinal curvature along with height loss. The rib cage tends to move downward and may rest against the iliac crest. Organs may become compressed, and an protuberance may be evident in the abdomen. Height loss, inhibited breathing, back pain, and abdominal fullness may be seen. The spinal fractures may result in a patient having decreased appetite due to this compression with subsequent weight loss. The forward resulting kyphosis may lead to shallow respirations, which can affect future anesthesia. Chronic lung disease may result.
Considering the substantial complications from hip and spine osteoporotic fractures, the best treatment method is actually to prevent their occurrence in the first place with Arizona naturopathic doctors.
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