Osteoporosis- click to download PDF(863K): download requires Adobe Acrobat

Imagine opening a jar of jam – as you wrestle with the top, you hear and feel the bones in your wrist fracture - or reaching into the cupboard for a glass – as you stretch out you experience the excruciating agony of one of the vertebrae in your spine bursting and collapsing on itself.

As a young person, you’re probably not worried about osteoporosis. Most think of the condition as only affecting old ladies, giving some a stooped posture. However, elderly women are not the only ones at risk.

For some sufferers it means a life of debilitating pain, where bone mass degradation has reached the point where simple movements like bending, walking or stretching can cause brittle bones to break and spinal vertebrae to collapse. Opening a jar of jam is suddenly fraught with danger.

There are many risk factors that are commonly associated with the gradual onset of osteoporosis. Some of them can’t be helped (such as being female). However, there are many lifestyle choices which are known to trigger or worsen osteoporosis, and how you live your life when you are young can directly affect whether you develop the condition at all!

As yet, osteoporosis cannot be cured; however, it can be partially reversed and can also be prevented.