Bone health in prostate cancer survivors
Osteoporosis is a condition where bones become weak and break more easily. Osteopenia is a less severe condition of bone loss and may precede osteoporosis.
Many people falsely think that osteoporosis affects only women. This is not true. At the present time, there are over 3 and a half million men who are 65 years and older living in the United States. In this group of men, up to 47 out of every 100 have low bone mass.
Men are less likely to receive screening and treatment for weak bones and therefore death rates associated with osteoporosis in older men are higher than in women. This is true especially in deaths from hip fractures.
If you are a prostate cancer survivor, the treatment you receive puts you at risk of weak bones. There are other factors that also make you more likely to get weak bones. Weak bones fracture easily and will affect your life. You should be aware of all these factors and the ways you can improve bone health and protect yourself.
This website provides you with the information you need to protect the health of your bones. It is not meant to replace the advice of your doctor.
Let's begin with this video which is from the Bone Disease Program of Texas.It is available in its entirety at: https://www.mdanderson.org/research/departments-labs-institutes/programs-centers/bone-disease-program-of-texas/about-osteoporosis.html
[This video comes from the Bone Disease Program of Texas and its available at their website: https://www.mdanderson.org/research/departments-labs-institutes/programs-centers/bone-disease-program-of-texas/about-osteoporosis.html ]
Hello, having a strong skeletal system is important to all of us. The skeleton is the support structure for the entire body. When you think of bones, you probably think of a hard skeleton. However, your bones are actually living organs alive with cells and flowing body fluids. You’re constantly being renewed. Throughout life, the healthy skeleton replaces old and damaged bone with newly-formed bone.
You should think of it a bit like city streets, …the earth moves, pot holes develop and, and in order to fix it you need to go in and fill the pot holes. The skeleton is like that. You acquire cracks and very small breaks on a continuous basis.
Throughout life these small defects of bone mass are constantly replaced by a new bone formation. After women go through menopause and in men over age 65, there is a higher rate of bone breakdown.
Most people think of older skeleton as sort of inactive. The rate of renewal or change or repair actually accelerates as you get older so unless you eat a balanced diet with adequate amounts of protein and calcium and vitamin D, you won’t repair the skeleton adequately.