It is a condition in which the bone mass is too low to resist fracture even with exposure to minimal or modest trauma. It is estimated that 15 to 20 million Americans are affected with the disease resulting in 1.3 million fractures per year. The bones most commonly broken are the spine, hip, and wrist. Women at risk for developing the disease include petit women with premature menopause, a family history of the disease, a sedentary lifestyle with inadequate ingestion of calcium, cigarette and alcohol use. To understand the disease osteoporosis more completely we must understand the normal turnover of bone.
Bone is an active living material which Is continually being remodeled.
It is broken down in a process called resorption and is rebuilt in a process called formation. These processes occur throughout our life. Until age 35, formation occurs more then resorption, and bones are therefore being built. Our bones reach a peak mass or density at approximately age thirty-five. From that time on resorption occurs more significantly than formation and therefore there is the tendency to lose bone mass as we age.