For JW Regarding Bone Fractures

[Guest guest]

Hi JW:

This is from the Surgeon General's Report ( " Bone Health and

Osteoporosis " ) on this issue:

" Falls account for [ONLY] about one-fourth of the spine fractures

that come to clinical attention ( et al. 1992a) [therefore much

less than one-fourth of all spine fractures since the great majority

initially produce no symptoms, see below]; the majority of clinically

diagnosed spine fractures result from excess stresses on the spine

caused by everyday [*****] activities (Myers and 1997). The

incidence of clinically recognized spine fractures increases rapidly

with age [*****] in both sexes (Figure 4-1). "

The stuff in [.....] is added by me.

Eventually, JW, while you may still have the musculature to carry 85

pound weights, you may find your bones are not equally up to the task

(arthritis + fracture). And since the vast majority of symptomatic

fractures are caused by everyday activities, and the risk increases

rapidly with age, eventually you (we all) will enter the danger

zone. Who knows when that will be (was?).

Even more disturbing, perhaps, is the following quote from the same

report which says that only 23% of spine fractures show enough

symptoms to cause the patient to visit the doctor. We all could

already have bone fractures - implying future problems - without

knowing it. (None showed up on my DXA scan). " In a recent study

from Sweden, only 23 percent of vertebral deformities in women were

diagnosed clinically (Kanis et al. 2004). In other words, there are

many " silent " spine fractures that produce no obvious symptoms to the

patient. These silent fractures may involve compression (or

flattening or crushing) of the vertebrae, can result in kyphosis

(curvature of the spine) and chronic back pain, and may be associated

with an increase in morbidity. "

Just trying to be helpful here (!)

Rodney.