Osteoporosis a global health problem

Osteoporosis Awareness – 

Worldwide around 200 million women have osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bone. Bones become fragile and porous.  From the outside, the osteoporotic bone is shaped like normal bone. However, the inside of the bone loses density and becomes weak. The risk of fractures become greater with age, due to the loss of minerals like calcium and phosphate. Osteoporosis most often affects bones in the hip, the spine and the wrist. Factors that influence bone health are nutrition, exercise and hormonal factors. Osteoporosis cannot be cured but delayed through early intervention and biomarker research has identified proteins that may help to identify patients at risk.

 

BIOMEDICA offers ELISA kits to measure Bone Biomarkers in human serum or plasma samples:

 

Osteoprotegerin (OPG) ELISA  , DKK-1 ELISA ,  Sclerostin ELISA , soluble RANKL ELISA and others…

IL-6 ELISA  , VEGF ELISA ,  Angiopoietin-2 ELISA

 How can you prevent Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis prevention includes a balanced diet, containing sufficient amounts of calcium and vitamin D and regular exercise.

Exercises to protect or reduce your chance of fracture include regular weight-bearing exercise (eg. weight lifting or resistance training) or any kind of activity that carries your own body weight (e.g. walking, running, climbing stairs, dancing).

A healthy and balanced diet with the recommended daily amounts of calcium are important for bone health. Read more about “Good for your bone foods .

Related literature

 The Effectiveness of Physical Exercise on Bone Density in Osteoporotic Patients.

Benedetti MG, Furlini G, Zati A, Letizia Mauro G. Biomed Res Int. 2018. 23;2018:4840531. PMID: 30671455. Link to full text

Abstract

Physical exercise is considered an effective means to stimulate bone osteogenesis in osteoporotic patients. The authors reviewed the current literature to define the most appropriate features of exercise for increasing bone density in osteoporotic patients. Two types emerged: (1) weight-bearing aerobic exercises, i.e., walking, stair climbing, jogging, and Tai Chi. Walking alone did not appear to improve bone mass; however it is able to limit its progressive loss. In fact, in order for the weight-bearing exercises to be effective, they must reach the mechanical intensity useful to determine an important ground reaction force. (2) Strength and resistance exercises: these are carried out with loading (lifting weights) or without (swimming, cycling). For this type of exercise to be effective a joint reaction force superior to common daily activity with sensitive muscle strengthening must be determined. These exercises appear extremely site-specific, able to increase muscle mass and BMD only in the stimulated body regions. Other suggested protocols are multicomponent exercises and whole body vibration. Multicomponent exercises consist of a combination of different methods (aerobics, strengthening, progressive resistance, balancing, and dancing) aimed at increasing or preserving bone mass. These exercises seem particularly indicated in deteriorating elderly patients, often not able to perform exercises of pure reinforcement. However, for these protocols to be effective they must always contain a proportion of strengthening and resistance exercises. Given the variability of the protocols and outcome measures, the results of these methods are difficult to quantify. Training with whole body vibration (WBV): these exercises are performed with dedicated devices, and while it seems they have effect on enhancing muscle strength, controversial findings on improvement of BMD were reported. WBV seems to provide good results, especially in improving balance and reducing the risk of falling; in this, WBV appears more efficient than simply walking. Nevertheless, contraindications typical of senility should be taken into account.

 

Exercise for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women: an evidence-based guide to the optimal prescription.

Daly RM, Dalla Via J, Duckham RL, Fraser SF, Helge EW.Braz J Phys Ther. 2019.23(2):170-180. PMID: 30503353. Full text link

Abstract

Background: Osteoporosis and related fragility fractures are a global public health problem in which pharmaceutical agents targeting bone mineral density (BMD) are the first line of treatment. However, pharmaceuticals have no effect on improving other key fracture risk factors, including low muscle strength, power and functional capacity, all of which are associated with an increased risk for falls and fracture, independent of BMD. Targeted exercise training is the only strategy that can simultaneously improve multiple skeletal and fall-related risk factors, but it must be appropriately prescribed and tailored to the desired outcome(s) and the specified target group.

Objectives: In this review, we provide an overview of the general principles of training and specific loading characteristics underlying current exercise guidelines for the prevention of osteoporosis, and an update on the latest scientific evidence with regard to the type and dose of exercise shown to positively influence bone mass, structure and strength and reduce fracture risk in postmenopausal women.