Facts about osteoporosis

Literally means "porous bone." This disease is characterized by too little bone formation, excessive bone loss, or a combination of both, leading to bone fragility and an increased risk of fractures of the hip, spine and wrist.

PubMed Health Glossary
(Source: NIH - National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

Prevention

About the Bone

About Osteoporosis

Having weak bones that easily break is a sign of osteoporosis. It is normal for your bones to become less dense as you grow older, but osteoporosis speeds up this process. This condition can particularly lead to problems in older age because broken bones do not heal as easily in older people as they do in young people, and the consequences are more serious. In general, osteoporosis is more common in women, and they often develop it at a younger age.

Getting older does not mean that you will automatically develop osteoporosis, but the risk does increase with age. People over the age of 70 are more likely to have low bone density. Plus, the risk of falling increases in old age, which then also makes fractures more likely.

But there are several things you can do to protect and strengthen your bones — even if you are already older.

Symptoms

Osteoporosis often goes undetected at first. Sometimes there are obvious signs that a person has osteoporosis — they may "shrink" a little and develop a stooped posture, for example. But often the first sign that someone has osteoporosis is when they break a bone, sometimes without knowing how or why it happened. This kind of break is called a "spontaneous fracture.