Archive for April, 2020
May is National Osteoporosis Month
You can get a new tip about how to improve your bone health every day in May. Visit https://www.nof.org/national-osteoporosis-month-may-2020/ to access the 31 Ways to Stay Bone Strong.
Cedar Valley Bone Health Institute of Iowa will be posting daily tips on our new Facebook page.
Join the 10K Steps a Day in May Challenge.
Visit https://www.nof.org/national-osteoporosis-month-may-2020/ to access the 10K Steps a Day in May Challenge.
If you are in a state which allows out of doors activities, as long as social distancing is practiced, get out and walk in the fresh air and sunshine. Exercising for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week helps your heart and lungs, as well as your bones.
Stay healthy if you already are. Work to become more healthy every day. Remember that 1960s saying: “If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?”
Jay Ginther, MD
Bone Health Gets No Respect
As testing increases, we are finding many individuals have been infected with Covid-19. Many have no symptoms. Many do not know that they have it. The overall death rate when counting everyone infected is looking like less than 1%.
The same is true regarding Clinical Osteoporosis. Many do not know that they have it. There are no symptoms except a fracture. Up to 80% of those with thoracic vertebral fractures do not know they have had one. Up to 20% of those with a recognized vertebral fracture die within 6 months from complications of their osteoporosis.
A hip fracture is hard to miss. Hip fracture can be the first symptom of severe clinical osteoporosis. Like Covid-19, hip fracture (Clinical Osteoporosis) is most dangerous in those who are older and/or have pre-existing chronic diseases (co-morbidities).
Over 20% of older men who fracture a hip die of complications within 6 months and many die within weeks. This is comparable to older men with Covid-19 who require a ventilator. Yet osteoporosis gets no respect. More than half the time osteoporosis is not even listed as a contributing factor. And rarely is the hip fracture listed as the cause of death.
We consider Covid-19 to be the cause of death even if we only suspect it. Perhaps it is time to consider a treatable chronic disease like osteoporosis in the same way.
Jay Ginther, MD
Spring Wildflower “Blue Zone”
Over age 70, I am sheltering at home until enough patients come to the office that I am needed. I am fortunate to live in Iowa where I can freely wander in my backyard and practice social distancing while walking our much quieter streets.
Spring wildflowers have started blooming, oblivious to Covid-19. Scylla, various daffodils, blood root are in full bloom. Dutchman’s breeches and rue anemone are starting to open. Huge hardy amaryllis leaves foretell a bumper crop of “naked ladies” this summer.
I walk in a “Blue Zone” amid spring wildflowers. Read The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner.
Jay Ginther, MD