If Osteoporosis Doesn’t Hurt, What Impact Does It Have On My Health?

Osteoporosis can affect your health in many ways, directly and indirectly:

You become much more susceptible to fractures. Fractures, depending on which bone you break, can cause physical immobility and impairment of your general health, as well as financial problems and social isolation. Fractures can lead to death. If you are 50 or older with osteoporosis, you have a 1 in 2 chance of having an osteoporosis-related fracture during the remainder of your lifetime.

Vertebral fractures caused by osteoporosis can severely affect the quality of your life in many areas, such as social functioning, overall health, emotional health, bodily pain, and vitality. The acute back pain associated with vertebral fractures and the healing process can be very debilitating. Being unable to do activities of daily living without pain can cause you to stop moving physically and mentally: physically because of pain or physical impairment, and men-tally because of fears of further injury and resulting isolation and possibly depression. Pain associated with fractures in other bones can cause similar scenarios with fear, frustration, and reluctance to do the activities to which you’ve become accustomed. There are many hazards to being immobile, all of them affecting your health in a negative way .

Getting shorter and, in some cases, developing a deformity of your back can cause problems physically and emotionally. A deformity called  kyphosis (sometimes called “dowager’s hump”) develops when the front edges of the bones of the spine col-lapse due to osteoporosis and tiny fractures. Figure 6 depicts the changes in your spine resulting from osteoporosis. The deformed spine does not just make you shorter; it can compress organs in your chest and abdomen, making it difficult for you to breathe and digest food appropriately . Men and women with this disfigurement can have poor body image or low self-esteem, some-times causing them to withdraw from social activities. Even finding clothes that fit well and look right can be difficult, further contributing to social isolation and depression.

Depression can be a direct result of osteoporosis, fractures, the fear of falling, and the resulting social isolation. You may become depressed because you are isolated from friends and family as a result, for example, of a hip fracture. Later, when your hip has healed, you might become fearful of venturing out again, causing you ongoing isolation from friends and family.

Over 65,000 women die from hip fractures every year. But if you survive, chances are you will be dis-abled. Just one hip fracture that results from osteoporosis can give you lasting disability. Twenty percent of women with fractures will never leave a nursing home. Another 50% will be permanently incapacitated.

Your overall health can suffer when you have osteoporosis. You may be malnourished from not getting enough of the nutrients that keep your bones healthy. As a result of fractures, you may become less physically active, causing further weakening of your bones and muscles. This loss of strength can cause rapid deterioration in your overall health.