Osteoporosis is a debilitating disease that thins and weakens the bones to the point that they become fragile and break easily. Women and men with osteoporosis most often break bones in the hip, spine, and wrist.

When that happens it may cause prolonged or permanent disability or even death.

Definition of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis, or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, especially of the hip, spine and wrist, although any bone can be affected.

What causes osteoporosis?

Many factors will increase your risk of developing osteoporosis and suffering a fracture. Some of these risk factors can be changed, while others cannot. Recognizing your own risk factors is important so that you can take steps to prevent osteoporosis from developing or treat it before it becomes worse.

Major risk factors that can lead to Osteoporosis:

Prevalence of Osteoporosis Problems

In the United States, 10 million people have osteoporosis. Millions more have low bone mass. And this place them at risk for osteoporosis and broken bones.

Osteoporosis can strike at any age but it is most common in older women. Eighty percent of the people in the United States with osteoporosis are women. One out of every two women and one in four men over age 50 will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis.

Symptoms of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is called the “silent disease” because bone is lost with no signs. You may not know that you have osteoporosis until a strain, bump, or fall causes a bone to break

Osteoporosis Risk Factors

Many risk factors can lead to bone loss and osteoporosis. Some of these things you cannot change and others you can.

Risk factors you cannot change include:

• Gender. Women get osteoporosis more often than men.
• Age. The older you are, the greater your risk of osteoporosis.
• Body size. Small, thin women are at greater risk.

• Ethnicity. White and Asian women are at highest risk. Black and Hispanic women have a lower risk.

• Family history. Osteoporosis tends to run in families. If a family member has osteoporosis or breaks a bone, there is a greater chance that you will too.

Other risk factors are:

• Sex hormones. Low estrogen levels due to missing menstrual periods or to menopause can cause osteoporosis in women. Low testosterone levels can bring on osteoporosis in men.

• Anorexia nervosa. This eating disorder can lead to osteoporosis.
• Calcium and vitamin D intake. A diet low in calcium and vitamin D makes you more prone to bone loss.
• Medication use. Some medicines increase the risk of osteoporosis.
• Activity level. Lack of exercise or long-term bed rest can cause weak bones.
• Smoking. Cigarettes are bad for bones, heart, and lungs.
• Drinking alcohol. Too much alcohol can cause bone loss and broken bones.

Detection

A bone mineral density test (called a DXA) is the best way to check your bone health. This test can:

• Diagnose osteoporosis
• Check bone strength
• See if treatments are making the bones stronger.

Prevention of Osteoporosis

There are many steps you can take to keep your bones healthy. To keep your bones strong and slow down bone loss, you can:

• Eat a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D
• Exercise
• Not drink in excess or smoke.

1) Nutrition

A diet with enough calcium and vitamin D helps make your bones strong. Many people get less than half the calcium they need. Good sources of calcium are:

• Low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese
• Foods with added calcium such as orange juice, cereals, and breads
• Herbs that contains high calcium contents. Colloidal mineral are easily adsorbed by the body

Vitamin D is needed for strong bones. Your body makes vitamin D in the skin when you are out in the sun. Some people get all the vitamin D they need from sunlight. Others need to take vitamin D pills. The chart on this page shows the amount of calcium and vitamin D you should get each day.

2) Exercise

Exercise helps your bones grow stronger. To increase bone strength, you can:

• Walk
• Hike
• Jog
• Climb stairs
• Lift weights
• Play tennis
• Dance.

3) Healthy Lifestyle

Smoking is bad for bones as well as the heart and lungs. Also, people who drink a lot of alcohol are more prone to bone loss and broken bones due to poor diet and risk of falling.

Treatment for Osteoporosis

Some of the conventional methods are:

• Exercise, quitting cigarettes, and curtailing alcohol

• Calcium supplements

• Vitamin D: Vitamin D helps to absorb calcium

• Hormone therapy. It is to improve the estrogen level. This has been proven to cause cancer.

• Medications that prevent bone loss and breakdown: Currently anti-resorptive agents are prescribed. Initially they were used as antiscaling and anticorrosive agents in industrial cleaning powders. Side effects include severe heartburn, belly pain and irritation of the throat (esophagus), upset stomach (nausea), diarrhea, constipation, and increased gas, flu-like symptoms including headache and pain in muscles and joints (especially if you take intravenous medication), increased bone pain. (This tends to be related to the dose of medication used).

Herbal formulations is the best form of treatment to treat osteoporosis naturally compared to  prescribed drugs because there are far more effective and has no side-effects. TCM believes that kidneys control bone growth. For bone to grow, the body needs bone marrow. In TCM bone marrow is derived from kidney essence. That explains why those who suffers from osteoporosis also suffers from dysfunction kidneys. In recent years, many bone disorders have been successfully treated by TCM practitioners through treatment of the kidney.

There are plants that has high calcium content. These are called colodial mineral that has been "digested" by the plants and are easily absorb by those who consume them.

In olden days TCM scientists knew that there are plants that can prevent bone loss and promote bone growth and there are those that restore health and prevent our body from been damaged due to free radicals These are traditionally called "bone" herbs. Herbs like Panax Notoginseng, Poria Cocos Wolf, Salvia Miltiorrhiza and Polygonum Multiflorum have for centuries been used as bone and nerves herbs. They have no known toxicity. Modern science has now confirmed that these are true. Below are some extract of research done by scientists:

Panax Notoginseng: Clinical research by western scientists have shown that ginsenosides Rg1 from Panax Notoginseng has estrogen-like activity and should be classified as a novel class of potent phytoestrogen. 61497

Poria Cocos Wolf:

1) Clinical research by western scientists have shown that Poria Cocos improves kidney functions. 07662

2) Clinical research by western scientists have shown that Poria Cocos have anti-inflammatory functions, high scavenging activity and protects liver and red blood cells from lipid peroxidation. 60151

Polygonum Multiflorum:

1) Clinical research shows that the extract of the root of Polygonum multiflorum exhibited a significant antioxidant activity. 33196

2) Clinical research by western scientists have shown that Polygonum Multiflorum increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, reduce total cholesterol, free cholesterol, triglycerides, retard atherosclerosis, protect the heart, strengthen the membranes of erythrocytes (red blood cells) and has powerful natural antioxidant and free radical scavenger and these have powerful anti-aging benefits in humans. Forster

Salvia Miltiorrhiza:

1) Scientists confirmed the validity of the historical use of the drug to improve heart and kidneys functions, promoting coronary blood flow without affecting heart rate, inducing dilation of renal vascular system, an increase in renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate, decreases blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, methylguanidine, guanidinosuccinic acid and inorganic phosphate (in rat studies), is a free radical scavenger, inhibits platelet aggregation and reduces accumulation of methylguanidine and guanidinosuccinic acid levels (methylguanidine and guanidinosuccinic acid have been reported to cause platelet dynfunction, hemolytic activity, glucose metabolism disturbance and inhibition of lymphocyte transformation). 1527-0661

2) Clinical studies by western scientists have shown that hydroxyl radical seems to be the most important factor in ischemia and reperfusion injury to skeletal muscle and that Salvia Miltiorrhiza have a role in antioxidation as a hydroxyl radical scavenger. 171-175

3) Research by western scientists confirmed that Salvia Miltiorrhiza extracts are effective in preventing the development of bone loss. 06738

Thanks to growing trust in herbal treatments survival rates have improved over the years. Herbal formulations to treat various types of kidney liver problems has proven to be safe and very effective without any side effects. When allopathic science failed, more and more people have to turn to trustworthy alternative source. It was desperation that saves them.