Tag Archives: fracture

Preventing falls

This is the time of year when seniors are most at risk of falls. Icy steps and sidewalks, slippery wet leaves, cold weather slowing reaction time and often poor light hiding treacherous outdoor conditions. So far we’ve been lucky in 2011, at least in the lower mainland, with relatively warm, albeit wet, weather and not to much of the dreaded ice about. But seniors 65 and older are the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population and the estimate is that around 1 in 3 will have at least 1 … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Men's Health, Osteoporosis, Senior's Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Osteoporosis guidelines

Late in 2010 I came across an interesting article in the Canadian Medical Journal (CMA) in which new guidelines were outlined to help physicians deal with managing and preventing osteoporosis. According to the study’s lead author, Professor Alexandra Papaioannu, the goal is early identification of those most likely to develop full blown osteoporosis later in life. The approach recommended in the guidelines is quite different to that currently taken. Instead of relying on bone mineral density (BMD) testing  -read more about BMD and testing here- http://www.west4thphysio.com/archives/530 , and then using … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Low back, Osteoporosis, Senior's Health, Women's Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Osteoporosis in men

The  statistics are in and they aren’t pretty. The CMA (Canadian Medical Association) has updated it’s guidelines for helping physicians deal with osteoporosis and I’ll outline some of the changes of focus in both this and the next post. Today; the prevalence of osteoporosis in men. The stats say one in eight men over the age of 50 has the disease. Physicians and other health professionals know the numbers but apparently the general public doesn’t. There is still, it seems, a prevalent train of thought that osteoporosis is a bone … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Osteoporosis, Senior's Health | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Osteoporosis treatment

 If diet and exercise alone were enough to prevent or even reverse the changes wrought by osteoporosis, management would be fairly straight forward.  Unfortunately, that is not the case. So what are the medical implications for those diagnosed as osteoporotic? The main dangers come with falling, but even lesser forces can result in low trauma fractures which are both debilitating for the patient and costly for the health system. There are several different families of medications that can help with osteoporosis. Some work by slowing the destructive reabsorbption of bone; some help promote new bone development, some … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Osteoporosis, Senior's Health | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Osteoporosis and exercise

This is a topic that seems simple on the surface but has some areas for real care and concern. From an earlier post http://www.west4thphysio.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=530 , you’ll remember that bones are always in transition. Building and breaking down and rebuilding again in response to the loading that is placed on them. This process of turning physical load into tissue (bone) change goes by the wonderful name of mechanotransduction. Good bone building load is gained from exercise that involves: weight bearing, that is exercise done while upright so that the force of gravity acts … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Osteoporosis, Senior's Health | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments