Osteoporosis and Your Spine

It’s never too early or too late to take steps to protect your bones, especially the bones in your spine. Broken bones of the spine are common in people with osteoporosis and often go unnoticed until more serious problems occur. Learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms of spine fractures and take steps to prevent these fractures from happening in the first place. If you’ve already broken bones in your spine, learn what you can do to help manage bone and muscle pain and reduce your chance of breaking bones in the future. Click here to download the Protecting Your Fragile Spine PDF.

More than two million fractures occur each year in the United States

Almost any bone can break as a result of osteoporosis. The most common fractures happen to the bones in the spine (back bone), hip and wrist, however, broken bones in the spine occur most often.

The anatomy of your spine

Your spine is made up of small bones called vertebrae. The picture of the spine shows the different regions of the spine, from the bottom (sacrum) to the top (cervical). People with osteoporosis most often break bones in the upper (thoracic) spine.When these bones break, they can cause pain, height loss and stopped or hunched posture. These posture changes are called kyphosis (see image to the left).

Download Protecting Your Fragile Spine

Learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms of spine fractures and take steps to prevent these fractures from occurring in the first place or from happening again. Download now

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Production of this resource was made possible through an unrestricted educational grant from Orthovita®. Orthovita® has created an educational resource for the public about the treatment of spinal fractures.
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