What Is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis

Our bones are composed of types of cells, these cells include osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Osteoclasts are cells that break down the old tissue of the bone, which results in osteoblasts forming new bone tissue using calcium and other minerals.

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder in which the bones become thinner and weaker, making them fragile and vulnerable to breakages, this is due to the decrease in the level of osteoblasts which form the bone, and an increase in osteoclasts. This loss of the bone progresses as the slowly over several years. Bones are composed of minerals most of which are calcium shells bound together by strong collagen fibres. The bone is protected by an outer layer called compact bone which supports the bone

If pressure is put onto the ball and socket joint of a bone which suffers from osteoporosis, it can break immediately.

Due to the loss of bone mass, the joints become a lot less flexible and more rigid making movement painfully hard , the synovial fluid within the joint begins to decrease too resulting in friction within the joint. Muscles cannot contract and relax efficiently and the change in the shape of the bone also weakens the strength of the muscles causing them to tear in some cases.

Normal types of movements like flexion and extension become harder for the person to carry out as it involves bending, this puts pressure the bones cannot handle on the bone which can cause fractures to occur. Abduction an Adduction also becomes very difficult to do with osteoporosis, as the joints become stiffer meaning that movement becomes painful and limited.

Factors that could cause osteoporosis includes:

Age

Age plays a big factor in the role of bone loss. This is because when you’re growing during adulthood, the bone breaks down old tissue faster than it is able to replace the old tissue with new tissue, making the bone fragile and