Disease Focus: Bone Conditions

The human body is kind of like a skyscraper, in the sense that it has an unseen infrastructure. Just like tall buildings have steel skeletons, humans have bones. Now I know this isn't news to anyone, but my point is that our bones are extremely important. If the infrastructure of a building is bad, the building isn't going to last, and the same is true for that human body. So in this post I'm going to talk about a couple different bone conditions, as well as doctors recommendations on how to strengthen and maintain healthy bones.

The first condition I think of when I think of "bone disease" is osteoporosis. Lets break down the word itself, because like many things in the medical field, the name will usually tell us exactly what the given word is. Osteo is a medical term for bone, hence the reason bone cells are called osteons (medical nomenclature seriously lacks creativity). The suffix -osis means "condition", so now we've confirmed what we already knew, that it's a bone condition. Finally we get to poro, which in Greek means "porous" or "passage", and it maintains that definition in English. So osteoporosis is basically a condition that causes bones to be exceptionally brittle due to them becoming porous. Some common risk factors include old age, smoking, irregular hormone levels, and low body weight. Also, females are more prone than males. Treatment includes specialized medication, calcium and vitamin D supplements, and exercise. Bottom line, it's a fairly common but also a very manageable condition. 

This next condition however is exceptionally rare, and quite difficult to manage and treat. It is called osteogenesis imperfecta. So just like last time, let's break down the words. We already know osteo means bone, genesis as you can probably guess, means production/creation, and finally imperfecta means wrong or imperfect. So, osteogenesis imperfecta is a condition in which bones are created incorrectly, making them extreme;y brittle. This condition is actually genetic, so anyone afflicted with it has it for the duration of their life. There are multiple types of this disease, some more severe than others. For example, Type I is the most common, and patients can usually live a fulfilling, albeit shortened life. Type II on the other hand is the most severe, usually resulting in death in infancy. Currently there is no cure, and treatment is on a patient to patient basis aimed at managing symptoms, maximizing mobility, and developing optimal bone mass. 

So putting those things aside, what can you do to take care of your bones? Well there's actually plenty we can do to ensure we develop and maintain healthy bones, a few examples are: consume plenty of calcium, potassium, and vitamin D, exercise regularly, limit caffeine and alcohol consumption, and reduce/quit smoking. Your bones are important guys, take care of them!

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/

http://www.oif.org/site/PageServer?pagename=fastfacts

http://greatist.com/health/build-healthy-strong-bones