Osteoporosis is a bone disease which affects numerous people throughout the year. Even after so many cases and being such as common problem nowadays, people are unaware about this disease and issues related to it. To raise awareness about osteoporosis, we at OnlyMyHealth have started a campaign to inform people about different issues related to osteoporosis bone disease. World Osteoporosis Day takes place every year on 20th October which marks the importance of creating awareness about this disease. Therefore, today we would like to tell you about some myths and facts related to osteoporosis which people usually believe it to be true.
How Does Osteoporosis Affect Your Body?
Osteoporosis actually causes the bones present in the body to become weak and it increases tendency of bones to crack or break very often. We have Dr. Pranjal Desai, Consultant in Orthopaedic Department, BNK Hospital, Kanpur. He explains that osteoporosis is a common condition which occurs in many people because of loss of calcium in the body or calcium deficiency. There are many factors that affect this bone disease but majority of cases can be prevented if people know about it from the beginning. Otherwise, osteoporosis may cause fracture, loss of bone density, brittle bones and many other severe problems. It affects spine, knees, hip and wrist in majority of cases.
Myths and Facts About Osteoporosis
1. You won’t have osteoporosis if you take calcium
Calcium is very important for the body and bone health, but it is not the only deciding factor for osteoporosis. Usually people believe that taking in excess or more calcium can treat the problem of osteoporosis. However, taking in adequate amount of calcium from childhood may decrease the risk of osteoporosis. Hence this is a myth that the chances of osteoporosis becomes null if you consume more calcium. Body actually needs more essential nutrients apart from calcium to preserve the bones like vitamin D, K and C and boron, strontium etc.
2. Osteoporosis is normal, it happens with age
This is a very wrong belief that this condition is normal. Osteoporosis is a serious condition which is not meant to happen in normal conditions, it only happens because of bone loss, deficiency and other factors leading to osteoporosis. It is true that people above the age of 40 years are more likely to get this disease because of lack of nutrition and bone loss. But it can also happen to young people if they have any underlying health condition or deficiency that leads to osteoporosis bone disease. Therefore aging does not mean to have osteoporosis as normal symptom.
3. Lack of oestrogen causes Osteoporosis
This is a myth that osteoporosis is a women’s disease or it happens because of lack of oestrogen levels. Women are affected more by this disease but it is not connected to low-oestrogen levels in the body. Women who have lower oestrogen levels in their body most probably after menopause but they still may not get osteoporosis as a result. Even though oestrogen levels have a small part to play in this bone disease, it is not a major cause of it. Therefore this myth should be busted as soon as possible.
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4. Osteopenia Leads to Osteoporosis
A lot of people also have this misunderstanding about osteoporosis that it is caused by relatively low bone mass. Osteopenia can have an effect on osteoporosis but it does not mean it would necessarily cause osteoporosis as well. Osteopenia affects a particular part or area of the body which does not mean that you are losing your bone. Therefore this is a clear myth and it should not be taken in this way. You can always regain your bone strength by proper nutrition and as the tissues automatically repair themselves.
5. Women won’t have osteoporosis until menopause
This is another myth about osteoporosis; osteoporosis can affect you at any stage if there is lose in bone density constantly because of various factors. It can affect women in their 20’s, 30’s or 40’s as well, therefore being careless of carefree about having menopause should not be an option. You need to take care of proper nutrients according to your bone health to stay away from becoming a prey of osteoporosis.
6. Osteoporosis happens to almost everyone around the world
There is a long standing myth according to which osteoporosis happens to everyone around the world. This is actually not true, different countries have different rate of cases of osteoporosis, it depends on the body type, hormones and medical history. Certain countries have more cases of osteoporosis whereas some have negligible. Since there is lack of awareness about osteoporosis in our country, there is not a certain data which can examine rate of cases in India. However there are few factors which actually determine the rate of osteoporosis-
- Stress and anxiety
- Poor nutrition
- Use of steroids or medicines
- High caffeine intake
- Lack of exercise
- Smoking
- Alcohol abuse
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7. Osteoporosis is not linked to other health problems
It is fairly untrue because as we have discussed in the past, there may be a medical history associated with chances of having osteoporosis. There are many diseases which can actually affect the condition of osteoporosis or can occur because of it. Some common conditions linked to osteoporosis are high blood pressure, low muscle strength, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular problems and muscle pain. People having these health problems are actually at higher risk of falling for osteoporosis.
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