Just for Dads
<p><b>Does osteoporosis affect men?</b></p>
<p>Bones are living tissue in your body that are constantly growing, rebuilding, replacing and repairing.</p>
<p><br />During childhood and adolescence, more bone is produced than removed as the skeleton grows in both size and density.</p>
<p><br />For most people, the amount of bone tissue in the skeleton peaks by their late twenties. At this point, bones have reached their maximum strength and density and men typically have more bone mass than women.</p>
<p><br />After this, the amount of bone in the skeleton typically begins to decline slowly as removal of old bone exceeds the formation of new ones.</p>
<p><br /><b>What happens next?</b><br />You experience bodily changes that come with ageing, like weakening muscles and weight gain. The body also becomes less able to heal itself effectively. In this case, you may run the risk of developing osteoporosis.</p>
<p><br /><b>The silent condition</b><br />Osteoporosis is a disease that causes the skeleton to weaken and the bones to break. While women are four times more likely to get the bone disease than men, men still get it, and it usually develops later in life.</p>
<p><br />With osteoporosis, you may not notice symptoms until you fracture a bone. When symptoms do develop, these include loss of height, postural changes, and pain.</p>
<p><br /><b>Factors linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis in men include:</b><br />• A family history of osteoporosis, fractures, and loss of height.<br />• Chronic diseases.<br />• Regular use of certain types of medication.<br />• Lifestyle factors, like smoking, excessive alcohol, low calcium intake, inactivity, obesity, Vitamin D deficiency and low body weight.<br />• Chronic diseases that affect the kidneys, lungs, stomach, and intestines or change hormone levels.<br />• Low levels of testosterone.</p>
<p><br /><b>Diagnosis</b><br />Osteoporosis may be diagnosed in men by examining their medical history, through a physical exam, blood tests, urine tests and X-rays.</p>
<p><br /><b>Takeaway</b><br />Alongside medicine there are things you can do to improve your bone health and help prevent osteoporosis from progressing.</p>
<p><br /><b>Lifestyle changes for treating osteoporosis:</b><br />• Exercise prescribed by a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist.<br />• Sufficient calcium in your diet.<br />• Vitamin D to help your body absorb calcium.<br />• A falls prevention program to provide strategies to help you prevent falls.<br />• Quitting smoking as smoking reduces your bone density.<br />• Limiting alcohol and caffeine.<br />• Increasing your daily intake of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats, wholegrain cereals and dairy products.<br />• Reducing your intake of fatty, salty, and processed foods.</p>
