Your bones are vital to your every day life – responsible for supporting your body, allowing you to move and protecting your organs. But how often do you consider the health of your bones?
Millions of people suffer from osteoporosis, the most common bone disease, in which bones become weak and are more likely to fracture or break. The majority of people with osteoporosis are women – often due to hormone changes as women enter menopause.
There are a number of risk factors that increase your chances of getting osteoporosis:
Talk to your healthcare provider about your risk of osteoporosis and whether or not any testing may be necessary.
While some of the risk factors for bone loss are outside of your control, there are things you can do to strengthen your bones. You can make lifestyle changes, especially during teen years and young adulthood, to prevent osteoporosis and slow bone loss.
While most common in older people, low bone density and osteoporosis can affect those who are younger as well. If you have low bone density at a young age, your risk of osteoporosis later in life increases. In premenopausal women, osteoporosis can be due to an underlying medical condition. If you have concerns about your bone health, talk to your healthcare provider.
Many people don’t find out they have osteoporosis until after they have broken a bone. However, there are screenings available that can measure the strength of your bones and determine whether or not you have osteoporosis. The most common test is a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which uses x-rays to measure the amount of certain minerals that are present in your bones. Usually, the test will be performed on your spine, hip or forearm.
Contact our Women’s Health Nurse Navigator at 740-687-2727 to learn more about bone health and other women’s health concerns.