by Syble James

Created on: January 29, 2008

Before 1994, to be diagnosed with osteoporosis you had to actually break a bone as a result of a minor impact or trauma. Since then, with the development of new bone-scanning technology and drugs, a wider definition that quantifies the diagnosis was created.

Osteoporosis is now defined as having a bone mineral density (BMD) that deviates more than 2.5 points below a standard. The standard is the average BMD for a large sample of 20 to 29-year-old women with supposedly peak bone density.

In the 1980's, the conventional medical industry went a step further and created a new disease called osteopenia, to fit women who fell below the standard, but not quite low enough to be diagnosed with osteoporosis. Osteopenia was construed to be a precursor to osteoporosis

However, there was no scientific basis for choosing 2.5 as the deviation number and no studies that support the assumption that a diagnosis of osteopenia meant that osteoporosis is inevitable. In fact, based on this definition, almost half of all post-menopausal women have osteopenia.
As a result of being told that they have osteopenia, many women stop lifting heavy objects or engaging in physical exercise for fear of fractures. However, in reality almost all women diagnosed with this questionable condition should increase their physical activity, not decrease it.
The truth is that bone loss is a natural and vital process. Bone loss, which is called resorption, triggers the formation of healthy new bone, also called deposition. Bone health depends on this give-and-take process called remodeling like breathing in and breathing out.

During this process, bone cells called osteoclasts travel through bone tissue retrieving old bone and leaving small, jagged spaces. This activates other bone cells, called osteoblasts, to enter these spaces and deposit new bone. Five to ten percent of all our bone tissue is replaced in a year by this process. Osteoblasts cannot deposit new bone efficiently without corresponding osteoclast activity. The key is that new bone is stronger, and even more significantly, new bone is more flexible than old bone.

New stronger, flexible bones can bear both compression (running, jumping) and tensile (flexing) pressure. Bones strengthen with use, just like muscles, all through your life. But as we age, bone loss may accelerate, resulting in up to one-third of total bone mass being absorbed, and we arrive at a point when bone loss gradually begins to outpace bone growth. Over time, bone that is not

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