The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the 20th of October each year as World Day osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disorder of bone metabolism. It is characterized by decrease in bone mass resulting in increased risk of fracture. Disease is quantitative rather than qualitative. “Prefers”, probably due to hormonal factors, women although the influence of the men in the country has at least us- underestimated.

By 1982, the medical community had little deal with osteoporosis. Starting point of a vast research path that continues today, it was the observation of the dramatic loss of bone mass cosmonauts who remained for a long time in weightlessness and high rates of low-trauma fractures when returning to Earth.

Osteoporosis can mainly be classified into two broad categories: a) in postmenopausal (type I) on women 50-70 years of age and b) senile (type II), involving people older than 70 years. Many factors can influence the onset and course of the disease. Smoking, alcohol, long-term corticosteroid use, low body weight, Caucasian race, diseases of the thyroid and rheumatoid arthritis, are only a few of the predisposing factors of osteoporosis, and good nutrition, exercise and particularly the achievement good peak bone mass in young age, help substantially to maintaining good bone.

Control of osteoporosis should include clinical examination, history taking, measurement of bone density (BMD) and laboratory tests (blood and urine). The it should be a year or two years depending on the course of the disease in:
– Women> 65 years, men> 75 years
– Women 50-64, men 50-74 years with increased risk factors such as preceding fragility fracture (spine, hip, wrist), history of falls, parental history of hip fracture, and the predisposing factors mentioned above.
– Persons 40-49 years on the basis of specific tables have high hip fracture or major osteoporotic fracture in the decade.

Measuring bone density is best done with the DEXA method. It must be made simultaneously in the spine and femoral neck and the lesser price. Other anatomical regions which may be Bone Mineral Density, but with much lower reliability, the Wrist and extreme foot.