What Every Woman Should Know About Their Bone Density

Whether you realize it or not, being a woman puts you at an increased risk for osteoporosis, a condition that causes your bones to become weak, brittle, and prone to breaking. In fact, women make up 80% of osteoporosis cases in the United States. 

Although many of the risk factors for developing osteoporosis are out of your hands, you can lower your risk by taking practical steps to care for your bone health and preserve your bone density.

At Women’s Specialty Care in Lake Forest and Grayslake, Illinois, Karen Mass, MD, FACOG, leads our team in providing expert care for the specific health needs of women, including preventing and managing osteoporosis.

In this month’s blog, we discuss why osteoporosis so commonly affects women and how to keep your bones strong. 

Why are older women at risk for osteoporosis?

Your bones are continually in a state of remodeling, always breaking down and discarding old bone tissue and replacing it with new bone tissue.  

From childhood to early adulthood, your bones efficiently absorb the nutrients they need to build up bone density and strength. In addition, during this stage, new bone tissue is being grown faster than old tissue is being discarded. 

However, around age 30, you hit peak bone mass, which means the rate of new tissue growth slows down, and your bones won’t grow any bigger or stronger. If you don’t prioritize building optimal amounts of bone strength and density during adolescence and early adulthood, you’re already at risk for osteoporosis. 

In addition to the risk factors of age and slowed bone tissue growth, being a woman puts you at a major disadvantage. Women have much smaller bones than men do, which means they can break down much faster. In addition, after reaching menopause, your body doesn’t produce as much estrogen, which is a vital protector of bone density. 

How to mitigate your osteoporosis risk

With so many factors working against you, it may seem like osteoporosis is inevitable. While you can’t change the fact that you’re an aging female, there are some practical things you can do to protect your bones from becoming quite so fragile. 

We recommend incorporating these healthy habits for optimal bone strength: 

• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables that contain bone-strengthening nutrients
• Increase your intake of calcium and vitamin D, which are super bone protectors
• Stay active and include weight-bearing exercises to strengthen bones
• Practice and improve balance to prevent bone-breaking falls
• Avoid smoking and limit alcohol intake, since these habits weaken bones

In addition, it’s important to see our team regularly for wellness visits and bone density scans. These scans can check the strength of your bones, which provides information about your specific osteoporosis risk and informs treatment.

To schedule a bone density scan and learn more about your risk for osteoporosis, simply call your nearest office location, or use our online booking feature today.