Postmenopausal osteoporosis

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a form of osteoporosisthat commonly occurs during the decades after menopause. It is a pathological condition of the human skeletonthat is characterized by the following features :

• low bone mass
• bone fragility caused by worsening of microscopic structural properties of the bone
• consequent susceptibility to fractures

Osteoporosis is assessed, according to WHO criteria, as bone mineral density (BMD). The T-score is a representation of patient's BMD expressed as number of standard deviationsbelow or above mean BMD of the young adult.

T-score values below 2.5 SD are defined as characteristic of osteoporosis.

Values between -1 SD and -2.5 SD are defined as osteopenia.

Healthy Lifestyle

There are many lifestyle changes that can reduce a woman's risk of osteoporosis.

• Exercise - weight bearing exercise, such as walking, dancing and running help to keep bones strong.

• Vitamin D - take Vitamin D through a multivitamin and expose yourself to natural sunshine regularly.

• Calcium - take plenty of calcium through foods and/or supplements

• Salt - too much salt can cause too much calcium to be excreted through urination.

• High Protein Diets - too much protein can cause too much calcium to be excreted through urine.

• Caffeine - heavy caffeine use can increase calcium loss

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmenopausal+osteoporosis Wikipedia article Postmenopausal osteoporosis.