Osteoporosis Symptoms

Important Information on Osteoporosis Symptoms

Due to the silent and quiet nature of osteoporosis, proper information on osteoporosis is very important to prevent it. The knowledge on osteoporosis symptoms is also required for the better treatment of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease of bones in which the skeleton reduces its bone mass immensely.
In medical terms, the bone mineral density (BMD) of bones is reduced many folds in this medical condition.
Osteoporosis can reduce the entire skeleton to shambles in its severe advanced stage.

Osteoporosis is found to be more prevalent in women. But, at an older age, a large number of men are also affected by osteoporosis. Even kids may fall prey to osteoporosis.
In this medical condition the degeneration of bones start and the process of removal and replacement of bones slow down immensely.

The osteoporosis symptoms are not very clear until it is too late.
Osteoporosis creeps in very slowly and quietly into the body. You may not even know that your bones are becoming thin and weak. The condition will go on deteriorating and you will become aware of this disease only when your bone breaks suddenly due to even a slight physical pressure like bending or even coughing.

Symptoms of Osteoporosis

The onset of this disease is hard to detect because there are no clear symptoms. The loss of bones occurs without any warning signs. The thinning and weakening of bones progressively occurs over the years and suddenly give way to fracture.
Such fractures may make you immobile for your entire life, especially when they involve spine and hip injuries. Hence, it is better to prevent than to treat osteoporosis.

Patients in the initial stages of Osteoporosis do not feel any pain and bone deformation symptoms in the body. However, a few hard to detect symptoms, which do appear at a later stage of osteoporosis are outlined below:

• Back pain: Osteoporosis is usually accompanied with back pain. This pain can become severe if proper steps are not taken immediately to cure it. Your vertebra may also collapse by the time you realize that you are suffering from osteoporosis.
• Loss of height: In osteoporosis the loss of height occurs basically due to stooping. Due to the deformation of the spine, a person stoops and looses several inches in height. The height loss may also be caused due to hunched back and protruding abdomen.
• Fractures: Osteoporosis frequently results in fractures. The fracture due to osteoporosis usually occurs in weight supporting bones like spine and hips.
• Thin and brittle bones: The bones become thin and brittle due to the depletion of calcium from the bones and reduction in BMD in osteoporosis. This symptom is usually detected only by the doctor.
• Spine deformation: As the osteoporosis affects spine in most of the cases, spine deformation can be very frequently observed in the osteoporosis patients. This is primarily due to collapsing of the bones of the spine.

If you feel that you are going through any of the above given symptoms, then you must immediately consult your doctor and get a proper treatment if osteoporosis is detected.