Osteoporosis

oldman

Well-known Member
Location
PA
I went to a one-hour seminar last evening at a local rather large Orthopedic and Spine treatment center here in PA. The seminar was conducted by two surgeons, which were very in-depth with their presentations. I thought that perhaps I could pick up some tips with what to do about my osteoarthritis, but the two illnesses are not related enough for me to get any help with what the doctors were discussing. However, my wife went along and we learned some very fascinating things about Osteoporosis that I thought I would share with all of you and yes, Osteoporosis does effect men.

There is now a procedure where they can go into a person's discs and inflate a balloon like material to cushion the joints, which in turn gives some relief to the patient. It is done under local anesthesia and there is no down time. They kept mentioning the three most important items necessary to help prevent or slow down the growth of Osteoporosis in a person's body; exercise, Vitamin D and Calcium. The doctors also said that they are seeing so much more of it than heart attacks and strokes and they do not expect this trend to slow, but to grow because so many young ladies are not taking in enough Calcium and Vitamin D. They attribute this to people not drinking enough milk or eating enough yogurt and so on. Also, they highly recommend drinking an 8 ounce glass of orange juice daily that contains Calcium and Vitamin D and getting sunshine, although they realize that in the winter, it can be difficult.

I was really impressed watching their computer images on the screen demonstrate how they place these balloon between the discs. After the ordeal is over, there is no pain, other than getting jabbed for the lidocaine. Afterwards, the patient is able to get off of the table and go about their daily routine.

They said Vitamin D works best when combined with getting enough sunshine, although they have not noticed a significant decrease in the amount of patients that live in the south and are able to get out and get more sunshine when compared to those living in the north and are stuck in their caves in the winter. http://osshealth.com/

I thought that I would share this with you, even if it doesn't help me, it may help someone else. I have always believed in sharing anything that may be beneficial to others, especially with health issues.
 

Thanks for the information oldman.
I have osteoporosis in my lower back and have been advised by my doctor to do all the things
you mention, exercise, take calcium and vitamin D, drink milk and eat yogurt. I do all this
and drink unsweetened almond milk and have it on cereal every day.

I had not heard of the procedure of placing balloon like material to cushion the joints.
It sounds promising for pain relief.
 
Thanks! I had a body scan and it shows a thinning of the neck bones but otherwise I was low normal - that was about 10 years ago. Since then I've been doing a lot more weight bearing exercise, drink soymilk, yogurt, take a calcium/D pill.

My sister takes the calciums pills (twice my dose), gets calcium in her diet, but does wimpy exercise. She used to be an inch taller than me, now she is and inch shorter. I've lost 1/2 in height, she's lost 2 1/2.

My husbands uncle has osteoporosis but he's 87.
 

Not sure all of that is good advice.

Orange juice as a source of calcium? Too much sugar. Sugar hinders calcium uptake.

And drinking milk? Countries with the highest intake of dairy produce have the highest incidence of osteoporosis.
Dairy consumption is linked with incidence of prostate cancer, and breast cancer.

I'd be wary of an individual calcium supplements per se, on the grounds that calcium and magnesium work synergistically. Too much of one creates an imbalance of the other.
So a multi mineral/Osteo Complex supplement instead makes much more sense.

And vitamin D, yes certainly. Involved in a myriad of bodily processes.
 
Not sure all of that is good advice.

Orange juice as a source of calcium? Too much sugar. Sugar hinders calcium uptake.

And drinking milk? Countries with the highest intake of dairy produce have the highest incidence of osteoporosis.
Dairy consumption is linked with incidence of prostate cancer, and breast cancer.

I'd be wary of an individual calcium supplements per se, on the grounds that calcium and magnesium work synergistically. Too much of one creates an imbalance of the other.
So a multi mineral/Osteo Complex supplement instead makes much more sense.

And vitamin D, yes certainly. Involved in a myriad of bodily processes.

I do soy milk and also tofu. Never drink juice - too much fructose. The orange juice that has calcium was added anyway, not natural. I take a combo calcium/D/ magnesium, but only one a day instead of two like the instructions.
 
The doctors showed some pretty neat slides of how people shrink with this disease. They did speak about doing weight bearing exercises, even if a person was to grab two cans of vegetables, one for each hand, and do curls or arm lifts. Exercise and vitamins seem to be the key along with sunshine. The slides also showed the bones of a person with osteoporosis. They look almost like a sponge with the small holes in them. It was a great hour and fifteen minutes and he was asking people what their something (I can't remember what the name was) score was from a bone density scan. One lady said her score was a -2.5 and the doctor told her that she had full blown osteoporosis, but that he does not put a lot of faith in numbers. As for milk and dairy products, they were not saying to drink milk at every opportunity, but a need to have a balance of calcium, Vitamin D and exercise. The U.S. is probably the largest user of dairy products and probably has the highest percentage of people with osteoporosis.

Check out this YouTube video of one of the Doctors that gave the seminar last evening. This was a very good seminar, even though it won't help me, I am always looking out for the other guy as well.

[video]http://osshealth.com/patient-education/video-library/#v=hJI9Oaz5oPc[/video]
 
That video is good, short, to the point. I assumed this was some very complicated thing with a long recovery time, but it's not. Thanks for posting.
 


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