Osteoporosis and Back Pain

Those who suffer from osteoporosis will know the constant dangers they face everyday. Extra care must be taken by the sufferer to prevent the falls, knocks and stumbles that wouldn’t bother an average healthy person, but can often result in fractures or breaks to the bones of a person with osteoporosis.

With osteoporosis, the bones of the body lose their density and strength, resulting in them becoming more brittle and easier to break. It is quite often seen as a disease of the elderly where shrinkage of the spine occurs, and the person quite literally seems to shrink, sometimes very rapidly. The typical ‘dowager’s hump’ is the excessive curvature of the upper part of the spine resulting from the collapse of the spinal column, which is caused by osteoporosis.

But osteoporosis does not limit itself to the elderly alone, as people of all ages can develop this condition through different factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, or a much reduced activity level through injury or illness, heavy drinking and smoking, eating a diet that is low in calcium, overactive thyroid gland, liver disease, or lack of oestrogen due to menopause.

Women often suffer more from osteoporosis than men, often due to the rapid reduction of oestrogen during the menopause, and the condition affects more women than strokes, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and breast cancer. About half of women aged between 50 to 75 suffer from some osteoporosis.

An injury to the spine can be extremely painful and debilitating, so what can be done to help strengthen your bones and protect your spine, and other vulnerable bones and joints?

One obvious answer to help with this condition would be to increase calcium foods in the diet, or to add a calcium supplement in tablet or powder form. But don’t just limit your thinking to just calcium containing dairy foods alone, such as milk, cheese and eggs. There are other foods like green leafy vegetables, herbs, vitamins and minerals you can include that also contain sources of calcium, and some that complement your efforts by helping your body to absorb more calcium, to slow the loss, or even hang on to it for longer.

Try to increase, or introduce the following into your diet:

Fish bones are a great source of natural calcium. Try to choose fresh or tinned fish where you can eat up the bones too.

Magnesium may be beneficial in preventing the progression of osteoporosis. Try taking a supplement, adding brewers yeast, or eating foods rich in magnesium such as nuts and soyabeans.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, so you will be getting extra by eating oily fish such as mackerel, sardines and salmon, which you are eating to get the calcium from the bones as mentioned above. Vitamin D is not called the sunshine vitamin for nothing, and by far the best way of getting a dose is by taking a walk in the sunshine. Vitamin D is produced in the skin as a natural reaction to sunlight, and the body gets most of its Vitamin D in this way.

Increasing your intake of boron is beneficial. Boron is a trace mineral, which can be found in plants. Recent research has indicated that post-menopausal women who increase their intake of boron can prevent calcium loss in bones, so tucking into extra serving of organically grow fruit and root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beetroot, turnips and parsnips can help keep your bones healthy. (Good quality soil is rich in boron, so make sure you buy organic wherever possible).

If you have fluoride in your drinking water, this can help by stimulating new bone growth.

Tea drinkers will already know about the health benefits of this popular beverage, but if you like herbal tea too, you may be pleased to know that a cup of comfrey leaf tea can aid in healing. Calcium containing herbal teas include parsley, kelp, dandelion leaf, horsetail, and nettle. Adding or increasing these herbal teas can be very beneficial to osteoporosis sufferers.

Low or no-impact exercise is recommended for sufferers of osteoporosis, such as walking and swimming. Weight-bearing exercises such as weight training with light weights can also help to keep the muscles and tendons strong that support the spine and joints.

With back problems, keeping your core muscles strong and tight is vitally important if you want to protect your spine from further injury, so taking a regular pilates class or course would be a great way of achieving a strong core, while trying to avoid jarring exercises such as jogging and high-impact aerobics which could result in injury.