When your feet suffer from osteoporosis: Your foot can easily suffer from stress fractures or broken toes. (This can actually be the first sign of osteoporosis in your bones.) You can experience bone pain, especially at the tops and sides of the feet.
Early symptoms can include increased pain with walking accompanied by redness and swelling on the top of the foot. “Often, patients don't seek treatment for their symptoms for weeks or even months, thinking the pain will pass,” says Dr. Botek.
Treatment Options
The podiatrist may prescribe a custom orthotic to be worn inside your shoe to provide additional protection and properly position your foot. In addition, increasing your calcium and vitamin D intake through diet and supplements may be recommended.
While the bones of the spine, hip and wrist are the most common bones to become fractured as a result of osteoporosis, metatarsals and other bones in the feet can be affected. In fact, some people first find out they have osteoporosis because of a fracture in the foot.
The fourth stage of osteopenia and osteoporosis
Without any intervention, osteoporosis can progress to stage four. During this stage the effects of significant bone loss become visible. Softening of the bones and accumulated fragility fractures, especially in the spine, results in deformity.
Severe (established) osteoporosis is defined as having a bone density that is more than 2.5 SD below the young adult mean with one or more past fractures due to osteoporosis.
In serious cases of spinal osteoporosis, the nervous system is affected and you may experience numbness, tingling, or weakness. If you have severe kyphosis, you may also experience difficulty walking and problems with balance, which means you are at increased risk of falling and breaking other bones, such as the hips.
You can prevent bone loss with regular exercise, such as walking. If you have osteoporosis or fragile bones, regular brisk walking can help to keep your bones strong and reduce the risk of a fracture in the future.
A loss of height, a stooped posture, back or neck pain, and bone fractures are often the most common symptoms of later-stage osteoporosis. If you have any of these symptoms, be sure to make an appointment with your doctor.
Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, jogging, and climbing stairs, can help you build strong bones and slow bone loss.
Bisphosphonates are usually the first choice for osteoporosis treatment. These include: Alendronate (Fosamax), a weekly pill. Risedronate (Actonel), a weekly or monthly pill.
Osteoporosis is not usually painful until a bone is broken, but broken bones in the spine are a common cause of long-term pain. Although a broken bone is often the first sign of osteoporosis, some older people develop the characteristic stooped (bent forward) posture.
People with osteoporosis may not have any symptoms. Some may have pain in their bones and muscles, particularly in their back. Sometimes a collapsed vertebra may cause severe pain, decrease in height, or spinal deformity. The symptoms of osteoporosis may look like other bone disorders or health problems.
If you have osteoporosis, don't do the following types of exercises: High-impact exercises. Activities such as jumping, running or jogging can lead to fractures in weakened bones. Avoid jerky, rapid movements in general.
Following a fracture, bones tend to heal within six to eight weeks but pain and other physical problems, such as pain and tiredness or fatigue, may continue. Here, the people we interviewed talk about what it is like to live with pain, what triggers it and what they do to help ease the pain.
Vitamin D supplementation may decrease bone turnover and increase bone mineral density. Several randomized placebo-controlled trials with vitamin D and calcium showed a significant decrease in fracture incidence. However, very high doses of vitamin D once per year may have adverse effects.
Unfortunately, the opposite also is true. If you have an office job that keeps you inactive most of the day, the lack of stress may cause your bones to lose strength. The World Health Organization says a sedentary lifestyle even contributes to osteoporosis.
The systems affected, the musculo-skeletal system and the central nervous system, are shared in many respects with the frailty syndrome. Vitamin D deficiency is a major contributor to the frailty syndrome, osteoporosis, and osteoporotic fractures.
Osteoporosis can be serious. Fractures can alter or threaten your life. A significant number of people have osteoporosis and have hip fractures die within one year of the fracture.
Using the WHO definition of osteoporosis, the prevalence in the US of osteoporosis in Caucasian postmenopausal women based on the lowest bone mass at any site is estimated to be 14% of women aged 50-59 years, 22% of women aged 60-69 years, 39% women aged 70-79 years, and 70% women aged 80 years or greater(ref 3).
This excess risk is more pronounced in the first few years on treatment. The average life expectancy of osteoporosis patients is in excess of 15 years in women younger than 75 years and in men younger than 60 years, highlighting the importance of developing tools for long-term management.
Many people can live well with osteoporosis and avoid breaking bones in the first place. But if you have had fractures, it's important to learn about the steps you can take to maintain a good quality of life.