Osteoporosis is a condition that you have a lot of control over, and I’m here to make sure you do not become one of the more critical statistics of this disease.
Some Important Facts about Osteoporosis
The Problem:
Approximately 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, and another 44 million have low bone density, placing them at increased risk. This makes 54 million Americans currently at risk for a fracture due to bone loss. Half of all adults age 50 and older are at risk of breaking a bone and should do everything they can to keep this from happening.
One in two women, and up to one in four men, will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. For women, the incidence is greater than that of a heart attack, stroke and breast cancer combined. A woman’s risk of fracture is equal to her combined risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer, and a man is more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis than he is to get prostate cancer.
24 percent of hip fracture patients age 50 and over die in the year following the fracture. Six months after a hip fracture, only 15 percent of patients can walk across a room unaided. Every year, of nearly 300,000 hip fracture patients, one-quarter end up in nursing homes and half never regain previous function.
The Solution:
If you are over 50 years old, be sure to get your first bone density (DEXA) test, as soon as possible. This will
Once we know where you stand, we can create a plan to achieve your desired results. Currently, “good bones” means we focus on keeping up good lifestyle factors, i.e. weight bearing exercise, high nutrient diets, avoiding cigarettes and excess alcohol, and staying healthy so you don’t have to be on one of the many prescription meds that increase your risk for bone loss (please see the list of those meds at bottom of article).
If your bones are not doing well we have numerous nutritional options tailored to your specific needs. If someone is doing poorly, meaning that they are near osteopenia or osteoporosis at an early age, or currently have osteoporosis and they want to do everything they can to slow, stop or even reverse their condition, then we have programs combining specialized bone building products and, if needed, PEMF Therapy. This combination is the best natural approach to correcting bone density that I know of and can be specifically applied to individual areas.
A couple years ago we had a patient who chose to do PEMF for osteoporosis and overall health.
Her follow up Bone Density test showed that her femur (the highest risk bone for osteoporotic fracture), had gained 8% in bone density! This is a significant improvement for someone over 60 years of age. They were not on any medication for bone density, only nutrition and PEMF! This is not too surprising though, since bone healing was the original benefit of PEMF that got the attention of health professionals. Since then, we had another patient, over 70 years old, on no medications, see an 11% increase in the bone density score of her hip using PEMF and Nutrition! These kinds of results in traditional medical circles are considered impossible.
I have worked with patients on bone health for over 30 years and depending on their status we have differing steps and products. In some cases we have to use very fancy bone building products, when in others we can use products that are better for overall health. The amount of support a patient needs can vary greatly also. The good news is that we can be specific for your needs and do follow up DEXA’s to make sure you are getting the results we want.
Here is a list of Medications that increase the risk of Osteoporosis:
- Glucocorticosteroids – oral or inhaled
- Certain immunosuppressant’s (
calmod- ulin /calcineurine phosphatase inhibitors) - Thyroid hormone treatment when excessive (L-Thyroxine)
- Certain steroid hormones (medroxyprogesterone acetate, luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonists)
- Aromatase inhibitors
- Certain antipsychotics
- Certain anticonvulsants
- Certain antiepileptic drugs
- Lithium
- Methotrexate
- Antacids
- Proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, etc.)
If you have any questions as to what steps and products are best for you, please call the office and make an appointment.
