Osteoporosis is a potentially crippling disease that affects over 75 million people worldwide. Osteoporosis is often called the "silent disease", because bone loss happens without any symptoms. Osteoporosis occurs when bone loss is so severe it causes bones to become porous, brittle and more likely to break. If not prevented or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks.

Any bone can be affected, but fractures of the hip and spine are especially concerning. Each year over one million people have a hip fracture, which in most cases requires hospitalization and major surgery. It can devastate a person's ability to walk unassisted, and in 50 percent of the cases a person may never regain their independence. Hip fractures may cause prolonged or permanent disability and sometimes death. Spinal or vertebral fractures also have serious consequences, including loss of height, severe back pain, and deformity.

What Are Our Bones Made Of?

Building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can be the best defense against developing osteoporosis. Bone is a living tissue and is constantly changing. The bones in our skeleton are made of a thick outer shell and a strong inner mesh filled with collagen (protein), calcium salts and other minerals. The inside looks like honeycomb, with blood vessels and bone marrow in the spaces between the bone. Old, worn out bone is broken down by cells called osteoclasts and replaced by bone building cells, called osteoblasts which means your body keeps your bones strong by replacing old bone with new bone. This process of renewal is called bone turnover.

When osteoporosis occurs, the holes between the bone become larger and the body begins to lose more bone than it can replace, making the bones weaker. Weak bones are more likely to fracture. Osteoporosis usually affects the whole skeleton but it most commonly causes breaks or fractures in the spine, hip and forearm.