Related topics: bone · osteoporosis · bone density

New stem cell research to take flight into space

A Mayo Clinic research experiment will be part of a payload that launches into space from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Jan. 29, subject to weather conditions and other factors. The research team ...

Counteracting bone and muscle loss in microgravity

In microgravity, without the continuous load of Earth's gravity, the tissues that make up bones reshape themselves. Bone cells readjust their behaviors—the cells that build new bone slow down, while the cells that break ...

How to prepare for a trip to space

Aleksandra Stankovic is an aerospace psychologist and spaceflight biomedical researcher who studies how to optimize human performance and behavioral health in extreme operational environments. In this article, she describes ...

page 1 from 6

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass (20-year-old healthy female average) as measured by DXA; the term "established osteoporosis" includes the presence of a fragility fracture. Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called postmenopausal osteoporosis, but may also develop in men, and may occur in anyone in the presence of particular hormonal disorders and other chronic diseases or as a result of medications, specifically glucocorticoids, when the disease is called steroid- or glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (SIOP or GIOP). Given its influence is the risk of fragility fracture, osteoporosis may significantly affect life expectancy and quality of life.

Osteoporosis can be prevented with lifestyle changes and sometimes medication; in people with osteoporosis, treatment may involve both. Lifestyle change includes preventing falls and exercise; medication includes calcium, vitamin D, bisphosphonates and several others. Fall-prevention advice includes exercise to tone deambulatory muscles, proprioception-improvement exercises; equilibrium therapies may be included. Exercise with its anabolic effect, may at the same time stop or reverse osteoporosis.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA