Posts Tagged ‘Exercise’
I Can’t Have Osteoporosis – I Feel Fine
This week a patient told me “I can’t have Osteoporosis, because I feel fine!” Osteoporosis is often silent. Osteoporosis can sneak up on you. You do not feel a thing – until the first fracture. And even then you must pay attention to realize that you have been warned.
High blood pressure can hide until the first stroke, or TIA if you are lucky. High cholesterol can hide until the first heart attack, a minor one if you are lucky. Diabetes can be overlooked until your eyesight or kidneys fail, or you lose a leg to ulcers. However, all of these, including Osteoporosis, can be successfully treated before a major problem arrives!!!
Fracture Prevention – Not Bone Mineral Density
The goal of Bone Health Evaluation and Treatment is Fracture Prevention! DXA and Bone Mineral Density (BMD) are useful tools for evaluation. But DXA and BMD are only one out of many tools for bone health evaluation. DXA t-score and BMD should never be the sole goal of treatment.
As an orthopedic surgeon, my goal is always Decreasing Fracture Risk. In the USA we sometimes seem to have forgotten that real goal. We focus too much on DXA t-scores. We should focus on the patient. We should treat “Clinical Osteoporosis”. The patient deserves a complete Bone Health evaluation.
Toxic and Addictive – Sugar
Obesity is becoming a BIG issue in the US and around the world. Countries which struggled to find enough food only decades ago now have growing numbers of overweight and obese citizens. Along with increased weight, we are seing huge increases in diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. Who or what is to blame?
Sugar is one obvious suspect. About 80% of all prepared foods in the US contain sugar, high fructose corn-syrup, and other calorie rich sweeteners. Some health policy activists are pushing for government regulation of sugar as a toxic and addictive substance – like tobacco and alcohol.