Can Osteoporosis Be Reversed?

 Let’s kick this discussion off with a spoiler — osteoporosis is incurable and cannot be reversed. But don’t let that discourage you because we can do a lot to offset, slow, and manage dangerous bone loss in your body.

Osteoporosis affects approximately 10 million Americans. Another 44 million in the US have low bone density. And women are far more at risk — half of women will develop a fracture due to osteoporosis as opposed to a quarter of men.

As women’s health experts, the team at Bay Area Physicians for Women’s Health understands this gender discrepancy all too well, which is why we offer targeted osteoporosis care.

Here, we look at why osteoporosis affects women more than men and how we treat the bone loss to protect you from fractures.

Bone loss and osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a condition in which your bones lose mineral density and mass, which renders them more porous and brittle.

Osteoporosis differs slightly from age-related bone loss. Throughout your life, your bones are constantly remodeling and rebuilding themselves. As you get older, the rate at which your bone breaks down might outpace your body’s ability to build new bone, leaving you with bone loss.

Also called osteopenia, this bone loss can get to the point that it crosses over into osteoporosis, which describes moderate-to-severe bone loss that places you at high risk for fractures.

Staying one step ahead of bone loss and osteoporosis

Once you cross over into osteoporosis, this bone loss can’t be reversed, so it’s an excellent idea to do what you can to address bone loss early on.

One of the main reasons why women are more susceptible to bone loss and osteoporosis is because of menopause and the loss of estrogen. In fact, women can lose up to 20% of their bone during the transition through menopause.

Armed with this knowledge, you can fight back against the bone loss by:

Staying active

No matter how much bone loss you have, the most important step you can take is to exercise, especially weight-bearing exercise. The tension that weight-bearing exercises creates in your muscles pulls on the bone and signals to your body to build bone.

As well, concussive exercises, such as running or even walking, also signal your body to rebuild bone.

Boosting calcium and vitamin D

Your bone health relies on calcium and vitamin D, which you can get in supplement form. So, women who are hitting their 30s or 40s might start early with these supplements to encourage good bone health. And women who are in their 50s, 60s, and beyond should continue to ensure they’re getting enough calcium and vitamin D.

Aside from supplements, you can get vitamin D through sun exposure, and you can get both vitamin D and calcium in fortified products like milk and orange juice.

Taking medications to combat bone loss

If you’re already experiencing bone loss, we can prescribe targeted medications that prevent or slow further breakdown in your bones, and some drugs can even promote new bone growth.

Some women opt for hormone replacement therapy after they pass through menopause, which can not only do away with hot flashes but help prevent rapid bone loss in early postmenopause.

Living healthy

Leading a healthy lifestyle in which you aren’t carrying extra pounds, not smoking, and drinking only in moderation can go a long way toward helping you maintain healthy bones.

Getting evaluated

We also recommend that you figure out your starting point. We can point you in the right direction for a bone density scan that will tell us where you fall when it comes to bone loss. This information is invaluable and allows us to come up with the best plan for addressing your bone loss or osteoporosis if that’s the case.

Your bone health is incredibly important so please don’t put off addressing bone loss or osteoporosis. To get that evaluation underway, please contact our office in Mobile, Alabama, to schedule an appointment.