A holistic, natural healthcare perspective on osteoporosis
For most people, when there is a health concern, it’s lovely when there is one issue and one solution. But it’s not like that with osteopenia and osteoporosis.
What’s the difference between osteopenia and osteoporosis?
Osteopenia is a condition where the body is not replacing bone cells quickly enough. Slowly, over time, the mineral density of the bone decreases and the bone gets weaker.
Osteoporosis is a more significant loss of this mineral density, but it’s really just a number: if the bone density is -2.4 it is called osteopenia, if it gets lower than -2.4, then it’s considered osteoporosis.
Why do people get osteopenia and osteoporosis?
It’s almost universally true that all people lose bone mass/density as they get older – some faster than others, and typically, women faster than men. There have been suggestions over the years on how to hold back the tide, but most of those solutions are patches to a bigger problem, like “take calcium” or “do weight-bearing exercises.” Both are helpful, but you still don’t see a lot of people reversing bone mineral density loss. Why?
There are a whole bunch of factors known to cause bone mineral density loss, and there are a whole bunch of unknown factors that cause bone density loss.
Here’s some factors we know:
- Poor diet
- Not challenging the skeletal structure enough (hence, the weight-bearing exercise recommendation)
- Hormones (like your thyroid, estrogen, or progesterone)
- Stomach acid pH
- Blood chemistry
- Other medications
But it’s complicated and most people don’t have the time, patience, or money to try to sort it out. It’s sloooooooooww going, because you need to make changes, then wait 12-18 months to see if what you did is helping to turn the tide.
What is the medical research on osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis was never a “thing” until the pharma companies came up with a medication that they accidently realized would help make the bone denser. The way they popularized that class of drug was to pay for machines to be installed in doctors’ offices to measure bone density. Create the cure, find the problem. Literally.
According to one medical research study, about 100 people need treatment for 2 years to prevent 1 clinical vertebral fracture. So there’s not a miracle drug. A lot of people have to take it to measure the benefit of reduced risk. This metric is called the NNT – the number needed to treat – and every medication has a published NNT. Meanwhile, all the other 99 people take the medication, aren’t receiving any benefit, and have to deal with the potential side effects.
The way the medication works is by not allowing the body to clear our dead tissue in the bone cell. Here’s a metaphor to illustrate how the medication functions:
You own an egg-laying henhouse. You earn money from the egg company if you keep all your egg-laying cubicles filled with a hen (it doesn’t matter whether she is laying eggs). Usually, when a hen dies, you pull the dead one out, but then there might be a few days until a new hen arrives. So, you are losing money.
Now, to connect this example to osteoporosis, you have bone spaces (the cubicles) that have bone cells called osteophytes (the hens) and the bone cells die, then are pulled out of the bone space (dead hens). The problem is, the truck that’s supposed to deliver more hens isn’t showing up, so your bone spaces aren’t getting refilled with bone cells! Major problem. More hens die and are pulled out of their cubicles, so you are getting paid less and less, meaning your bone cells aren’t getting replaced fast enough (osteoBLASTS) and your bones are getting weaker and weaker.
Just like it’s not the best idea to keep the dead hens in the cubicles just to keep getting paid, it is NOT the best idea to keep dead bone cells in the spaces just so the bone density appears better.
We can look at another example:
Which metal is more dense, mercury or aluminum? Mercury! By a long shot. More molecules packed into a cubic area. But which is stronger? Aluminum, by a long shot! Less dense, but much stronger.
So density, by itself, is not the real objective. Healthy, strong bones is the real objective.
How do we get your body into a state where it wants to make strong, healthy bones?
Well, that takes some exploring. Here are some important factors to consider:
- Do lab tests for hormonal-related issues
- Acquire a clear family history
- Maintain a normal digestive process (so that you have a good acidic environment in your stomach which help absorb your positively-charged supplements)
- Eat well
- Take high-quality supplements
- Challenge the bone health through appropriate stress
- Ensure there is no pH or metabolic problem that will be drawing minerals out of the bone through blood testing
Thanks for reading another article, and let us know how we can help you in your journey! Use the red button below to schedule – a consultation is ALWAYS free!
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Thank you for choosing Dr. Martin as your trusted chiropractor for pain and wellness in the Durham area. We appreciate you for making the commitment to your health! Stay tuned for the next blog post.
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