Why Do I Keep Breaking?

A reader asked “Why do I keep breaking?”

If you do have more than one Fragility Fracture, you certainly need to find out why!  Every Fracture that you have increases the chance of another Fracture unless you find and correct the underlying problem. 

A single Vertebral Fracture found on x-ray (even if you never were aware of it) indicates a 5x greater risk of another Spine Fracture and a 2x risk of Hip Fracture!  Get a VFA with your DXA.  Use FRAX.

The most common problems are Vitamin D Level and Calcium in Diet and Calcium Supplememts.  Watch Our Videos!  Test for Vitamin D Level.  Switch to Calcium Citrate.

Smoking and Steroid Inhalers greatly increase Risk of Fracture.  These you may be able to do something about.  Family History of Fractures you can only try to overcome with treatment.  The same with Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and multiple myeloma.  Fortunately we have effective treatments.

Menopause or cancer treatment, in men as well as women, can increase risk of osteoporosis and risk of fractures.

If you have multiple fractures, you need a complete work-up!  Do it before you break yet again.

Jay Ginther, MD

January 2012

Categorised in: Bone Health, Fracture, Osteoporosis, Take Control Naturally