Brittle Bones

by Dr Joanna McMillan
in Current news stories
1 Jun 2010 | 1 Comment

Last week I had the honour of presenting alongside a prestigious lineup that included the Governor-General and olympian Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, in a public seminar to raise awareness of osteoporosis or brittle bones. I was horrified at the latest statistics; one-in-two older Australian women and one-in-three older men are affected. That makes it more common than breast or prostate cancer yet we are not talking about it. This isn't a matter of just being a little prone to fractures - this is a serious debilitating disorder that reduced quality of life and ultimately affects mortality. If you are young you need to think about it now, and if you have any risk factors go and have your bone density checked. Your GP is your first stop. So what can we do? Weight bearing exercise including walking but try to include some jumping or impact type activities, do not be underweight, maintain your strength through resistance training, eat a calcium-rich diet and obtain enough vitamin D (essential to absorb and lay down calcium in bone). You can get some vit D from foods such as egg yolk and oily fish, but most is made in the skin on exposure to sunlight. All you need is 15 mins a day on unprotected skin - weaker winter sunshine is enough. If you can't achieve this then consider a supplement.

Comments (1)

I thought osteogenisis imperfecta was called brittle bones?

Yes OI is also often called brittle bones disease but this is a little different to osteoporosis. OI is a genetic disease that causes brittle bones from childhood, whereas osteoporosis affects many more of us as we age and the factors involved are many. The term brittle bones covers any of these diseases which result in bones that break easily.

9 Jun 2010, carol

Brittle Bones

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