April 20, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Osteoporosis sneaks up unnoticed

Osteoporosis is called a “silent epidemic”. It sneaks up so imperceptibly that for a long time you can not even guess about its existence. Meanwhile, the disease affects 30% of women and 20% of men aged 50+.

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by a progressive decrease in bone density. They become porous and brittle, break easily even with minor impacts and falls. To understand the essence of the disease, it is enough to know the translation of its name from the Greek language: osteon – bone, poros – hole. That is, osteoporosis is a disease that affects bone tissue to form a void.

This is due to an excessive decrease in bone density due to insufficient calcium in the body. Most often, osteoporosis is observed in elderly women, when the level of the sex hormone is rapidly decreasing. Fracture of fragile bones in osteoporosis can occur even with minor trauma, and the spine can suffer without external influence.

How to know if you have osteoporosis

The presence of a proceeding without pronounced symptoms is possible by the following signs:

decrease in growth (the cause of frequent complexes in men); muscle fatigue; change in gait and posture deformity.

However, if osteoporosis progresses, some symptoms appear over time to indicate this. Should alert such manifestations as:

pain in the bones and lower back of an aching nature, arising from being in one position (lying or sitting) for 30 minutes or more; cramps in the feet and legs, more often at night; delamination, fragility of nails; periodontal disease; tachycardia (heart palpitations); early graying.

If the listed signs are progressing, it’s time to go for a consultation with a specialist and determine the presence / absence of osteoporosis. A doctor’s examination will determine if the bone density has changed, check for steroids and a possible tumor. It is also necessary to control the content of calcium and hormones. Conservative treatment of detected osteoporosis consists in the appointment of massage and exercise therapy, manual therapy, calcium and vitamin D3 preparations, and special multivitamins for women. However, consultations with a doctor about osteoporosis are unforgivably rare. More often, patients are seen because of a fracture, and an x-ray will report the presence of signs of bone osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis – Causes and Risk Factors

The main danger of osteoporosis is the ease of fractures, which in old age is fraught with numerous complications. Knowing the causes of an insidious disease, you can try to prevent it, although this is not always possible. Factors leading to osteoporosis include:

aging and violation of the structure of bone tissue in this regard; side effect of long-term use of glucocorticoids; low production of sex hormones in postmenopausal women; secondary osteoporosis occurs as a complication of the primary disease – diabetes mellitus, chronic hepatitis, malignant tumor; deficiency of vitamin D and calcium in food – it begins to “wash away” from the bones.

If in childhood and adolescence the formation of bone tissue prevails over its destruction, then in old age the process of resorption intensifies. The risk of being diagnosed with osteoporosis increases with overweight or underweight, low mobility, drug therapy, and genetic predisposition. Osteoporosis of the hip or knee joint, spine is a common diagnosis in older women. The main risk factors – gender or aging – cannot be changed. But to give up smoking and alcohol, to move more and bask in the rays of the warm sun is quite accessible to everyone. At a consultation with a doctor, you can find out about measures to prevent a dangerous disease and methods of stimulating bone strengthening.

Osteopathic treatment for osteoporosis.

In addition to medication prescribed by a doctor, patients with osteoporosis need to work with the musculoskeletal system. The osteopath relieves excessive muscle tone, strengthens the muscle corset, provides lymphatic drainage, helps restore posture and compensate for scoliosis whenever possible. Osteopathy, with the help of gentle techniques, copes with these tasks perfectly. Special osteopathic techniques, in addition, maximally smooth out the effect of bone fractures that have already occurred on the surrounding tissues and contribute to a more effective bone fusion in fractures.

Osteopathic doctor Sergei Eleutheriadis.
Address: Aphroditis 11 Paleo Faliro.
Mob: 6979318267 viber.





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