The Bone Disease: Osteoporosis And Bone Loss

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Osteoporosis, which means “porous bones,” is a bone disease that causes bone loss. It thins and weakens the bones making them fragile and more likely to break. As bone become weaker they may break from a fall or, in more advance cases, from sneezing or bumps. Normally, the human skeleton is replaced entirely every 10 years through reabsorption of old bones and formation of new bone. Bone loss however happens when more old bones are reabsorbed than new bones are created. Furthermore, osteoporosis is also known as the “ silent disease” because it usually develops slowly throughout the years without any sight of symptoms. Breaking a bone is often the first sign of osteoporosis or a lost in height and curving of the upper back. Some of the main causes of this disease are: gender, age, body size, ethnicity, and family history. Figure 1: healthy bone cross section vs bone with osteoporosis.
When a bone is viewed under a microscope it looks like a honeycomb. The compact bone is visible and there is more of it than spongy bone. However, a bone with osteoporosis has a larger honeycomb area than that of a healthy bone. Osteoporotic bones loses their density and form abnormal tissue structure. The deterioration of the bones during osteoporosis can be seen in the figure above.
Breaking …show more content…

Women are known to be four times more prone to develop osteoporosis than men. This is because women tend to have smaller, thinner bones than men. When women reach menopause it further increases their chance of developing osteoporosis. This is due to the decrease in estrogen levels, a hormone in women that protects bones, during and after menopause. Thus, more than 50 percent of women of age 50 and older have lower bone mass and a higher risk of developing the disease. Nonetheless, osteoporosis in men can be caused by lower levels in testosterone as they age which cause bone

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