Specialist Osteoporosis Treatment without the side effects is possible.
Usually I spend more of my time talking about joints than bones! But with all of us wanting to stay active and healthy for longer, this often ignored condition can no longer be dismissed.
When is a broken bone not a broken bone?
Bones are alive and continually changing – worn out bone being replaced by new. In fact you get a completely new skeleton every 10 years!
Bones have a thick outer shell and a honeycomb mesh inside – when the gaps in this internal mesh become bigger, making the bone fragile and brittle, this is osteoporosis. Literally porous bones.
Surprise!
Osteoporosis is often called a silent disease as there are few obvious, external symptoms. Many people only realise they have it when they break a bone in a tiny fall and an X-ray reveals loss of bone density.
However it can be painful and seriously affect your lifestyle – fear of breaking a bone means you don’t live the life you want to.
Causes
The biggest one is being female! While there are a few other disorders and medications that can contribute to bone loss (listed on our website) being a female over 50 is the biggest cause.
Diagnosis
The easiest and quickest way to diagnose osteoporosis is a bone density scan.
This is a simple procedure, you don’t even need to remove your clothes, and will give you a bone density score which can be used to monitor your progress and reaction to treatment.
Treatment
Medication – there is a huge range of medication available so it is important that you work with your physician to choose the right one for you and this can be a long and involved process. Some medications have very serious and painful side effects so make sure to ask all the questions before starting treatment. Some also only prevent bone loss rather than creating new, healthy bone.
Nutrition and Exercise – a diet rich in Vitamin D and Calcium is important in supporting bone health. And weight bearing exercise is also key. But balance is important – too much exercise on a too low calorie diet can be as damaging as too little exercise on a too high calorie diet.
Or . . . . . .
There is another option which has demonstrated results of a 4-30% increase in bone density within 6 months in over 20 years of clinical use throughout Europe.
Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) – a treatment based on the MRI scanner, it stimulates bone regrowth and regeneration and can be used in conjunction with other treatments.
Check your results
My favourite part of osteoporosis treatment? We can easily test it.
Combining good nutrition and exercise with clinical treatment to create a successful treatment program that’s right for you. And then we can easily and simply monitor progress. That makes my scientific heart sing!
