OSTEOPOROSIS What is Osteoporosis? The word 'osteoporosis' means, literally, 'porous bone'. It is a condition where you gradually lose bone material so that your bones become more fragile. As a result, they are more likely to break even after a simple fall. Osteoporosis is quite common in Britain. Each year there are around 70,000 hip, 120,000 spine and 50,000 wrist fractures due to osteoporosis	What is Osteoporosis?Adding Video to Blog by VideoLightBox.com v1.8

How does osteoporosis affect the bones?
Bone is made of fibres of a material called collagen filled in with minerals – mainly calcium salts – rather like reinforced concrete. The bones of the skeleton have a thick outer shell or 'cortex', inside which there is 'trabecular' bone which is formed in a meshwork, as shown in Figure 1(a). Osteoporosis causes bone to be lost, leaving gaps in the bone material, as shown in Figure 1(b).

What causes osteoporosis?
Our bones grow during childhood and adolescence and are at their strongest in the late 20s. As middle age approaches the bones very gradually begin to become weaker. This weakening or thinning of the bones continues as we get older.

The process speeds up in women in the 10 years after the menopause. This is because the ovaries stop producing the female sex hormone oestrogen – and oestrogen is one of the substances that helps keep bones strong. Men suffer less from osteoporosis, because their bones are stronger in the first place and they do not go through the menopause.

What are the consequences of osteoporosis?
People with osteoporosis are more likely to break a bone even after a relatively minor accident. Fractures are most likely to the hip, spine or wrist. Hip and wrist fractures are usually sudden and the result of a fall. People who have previously had a fracture after a minor fall are at greater risk of further fractures. Spinal problems occur if the bones in the spine (vertebrae) become weak and crush together. If several vertebrae are crushed, the spine will start to curve. This may cause back pain and loss of height and because there is then less space under the ribs, some people may have difficulty breathing. People who have this type of spinal problem also have an increased risk of fractures.

How can osteoporosis be treated?
Apart from medication and preventative measures there are other treatments available if you have osteoporosis. These may slow down the loss of bone, reduce the risk of fractures or simply reduce pain and tension by relaxing the muscles around the areas of fragile bones.

Client reported benefits for Osteoporosis include:

• Reduced pain levels by relaxing associated muscle tissue.
• Increased mobility and range of movement.
• Fluid Retention.

To read more about our therapy click here or to learn more about the general benefits of massage therapy click here

To see if you can receive similar or possibly even better results why not take us up on our offer of a free in-home demonstration.

Remember you have nothing to lose but your pain and just like many of our current clients in the years to come you could be reporting back to us your improved quality of life