Need of exercise will increase as you age. In women after menopause, there will be a rapid drain of bone mineral mass. This makes the matrix become porous and brittle. A minor fall with body weight or slight mechanical stress on bones leads to fracture. It is a silent disease because one cannot feel their bones becoming weaker. Many may not even know that they have osteoporosis until after they break a bone. Involving in physical exercise can reduce the risk of osteoporosis and osteopenia especially in women in their 50’s.
Approximately 10 million Americans have osteoporosis and another 44 million have low bone density, placing them at increased risk.
A woman’s risk of fracture is equal to her combined risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer. A man is more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis than he is to get prostate cancer. 24 percent of hip fracture patients age 50 and over die in the year following the fracture. Only 15 percent of patients can walk across a room unaided, after six months treated for hip fracture. Every year, of nearly 300,000 hip fracture patients, one-quarter end up in nursing homes and half never regain previous function.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), osteoporosis affects 30 percent of postmenopausal women. In India, osteoporosis is prevalent among 61 million people, with 80 percent of affected individuals being women. Additionally, osteoporosis in India peaks 10-20 years earlier than in Western countries, resulting in significant impacts on both health and economic resources.
A study that was conducted in Punjab in the year 2020.
This cross-sectional study prospectively examined postmenopausal women who attended general health check-up camps between September 2019 and March 2020, which were community service programs hosted by several hospitals in Punjab. Among 2672 women who underwent preliminary screening, 1628 women aged 50 to 80 years with confirmed menopause (one or more complete years of cessation of the menstrual cycle) were enrolled. Participants who did not consent or had other conditions such as musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular disorders, cerebrovascular pathology, sarcopenia, diabetes, liver disorders, family history of osteoporotic fractures, thyroid dysfunction, lupus, chronic kidney disease, were taking hormone therapy or any medication affecting blood pressure or lipoprotein metabolism, or taking psychotropics, psychoactives, psychedelics or multivitamins/antioxidants were excluded. A total of 672 women underwent bone mineral density (BMD) testing using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the femoral neck (hip) and lumbar region (L1-L4 vertebrae). According to WHO guidelines, the T-scores were calculated, and the participants were classified as having osteoporosis (n = 205), osteopenia (n = 297), or normal bone mass (n = 170). All postmenopausal women provided written consent before participating in the study, which was approved by the Institutional Ethical Review Committee of Punjabi University, Patiala.
The acquisition of adult bone mass is mostly completed by the age of 18 in girls and 20 in boys, comprising approximately 85-90 percent. The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) is presently revising a scientific manuscript on Peak Bone Mass, emphasising ways to establish and sustain strong bones throughout an individual’s lifetime. Developing robust bones during childhood and adolescence is essential in warding off osteoporosis in later years.
Consuming a nutritious diet and engaging in regular exercise can help slow or halt bone mass loss, ultimately decreasing the likelihood of fractures.
Some might get a thought about why every other disease is gaining potential on human well being with the time. If we compare lifestyle in today and rate of physical activity to that of the last 3 decades, there is a big gap. Particularly women used to carry vessels with some weight supported by their waist, buckets full of water in hand, carrying some load placed over the head was a quite common thing in everyday life. That offered them a mechanical load through the entire structure of the skeleton.
As we know the body’s nature of supercompensation against micro trauma, it only absorbs the minerals that are floating in the plasma only when there is a purpose of rebuilding it. Here the body’s purpose for rebuilding is to carry the load as regularly doing or increasing its tolerance to withstand the mechanical stimulus applied. The maximum mineral uptake by the bones happens only with the combination of structural loading and nutritious food supplied. If only taking supplements or food neglecting exercise will show the poor absorption of minerals and failing to reap the benefits. This will more relate to you understanding the formation of callus in the palm area.
The excessive skin tissue (callus) forms only when the skin gets ruptured oftenly by the external load, our body detects the tear of skin tissue and builds it thicker to withstand the mechanical load and avoid tearing of skin tissue. If we stop the rigorous activity that challenges the grip of our hands, gradually the skin thickness becomes normal.
The same principle applies to build, preserve or minimise the loss of minerals.
Today even men are barely subjected to the resistance or moving things against gravity. That’s the reason why our body is not able to recognize the future purpose to build new cells for tissues. Since it is recommended to get themselves involved in a physical activity, where they can practise movements and create a purpose to move effectively.
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