Osteoporosis history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Cafer Zorkun, M.D., Ph.D. [2], Raviteja Guddeti, M.B.B.S.[3]
Overview
Osteoporosis itself has no symptoms. The disease state causes increased fragility of the bones and thus making them more prone to fractures.
Symptoms
There are no symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
Symptoms occurring late in the disease include:
- Bone pain or tenderness.
- Fractures with little or no trauma. They are regarded as fragility fractures. Typical fragility fractures occur in the vertebral column, hip and wrist.
- Loss of height (as much as 6 inches) over time.
- Low back pain due to fractures of the spinal bones often with radiculopathic pain (shooting pain due to compression of a nerve) and rarely due to a spinal cord compression or cauda equina syndrome.[1]
- Loss of height.
- Neck pain due to fractures of the spinal bones.
- Stooped posture or kyphosis, also called a dowager's hump.
- Fractures of the long bones acutely impair mobility and may require surgery. Hip fracture, in particular, usually requires prompt surgery, as there are serious risks associated with a hip fracture, such as deep vein thrombosis, a pulmonary embolism, and increased mortality.
- The increased risk of falling associated with aging, leads to fractures of the wrist, spine, and hip. The risk of falling, in turn, is increased by impaired eyesight due to any cause (e.g. glaucoma, macular degeneration), balance disorder,movement disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease), dementia, and sarcopenia (age-related loss of skeletal muscle). A Collapse (transient loss of postural tone, with or without loss of consciousness) leads to a significant risk of falls; causes of syncope are manifold but may include cardiac arrhythmias, vasovagal syncope,orthostatic hypotension and seizures. Removal of obstacles and loose carpets in the living environment may substantially reduce falls. Those with previous falls, as well as those with a gait or balance disorder, are most at risk.[2]
References
- ↑ Kim DH, Vaccaro AR (2006). "Osteoporotic compression fractures of the spine; current options and considerations for treatment". The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society. 6 (5): 479–87. doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2006.04.013. PMID 16934715.
- ↑ Ganz DA, Bao Y, Shekelle PG, Rubenstein LZ (2007). "Will my patient fall?". JAMA. 297 (1): 77–86. doi:10.1001/jama.297.1.77. PMID 17200478.