Healthy-India.org :: About bones and osteoporosis

OSTEOPOROSIS

What is osteoporosis?

Osteo means bone and porous means with holes. Osteoporosis is when the bones become weak and fragile and brittle and consequently can fracture easily. It also gives rise to bone aches and easy fractures. You will also lose height over the years if your bones become porous.

Bones are the structure and framework of your body

You have more than 200 bones. They hold up your body, and, along with your muscles, keep you moving. Basically, without bones you'd just be one big blob!

What are these bones made of?

They are mostly collagen, a protein that is like a soft framework for bones, and calcium phosphate, a mineral that makes bones hard. Collagen and calcium work together to make bones strong and flexible. All together, the bones in your body form your skeleton. Your skeleton is very strong, but also very light. Most of your body's calcium is contained in your bones and teeth! The rest is in your blood.

Even though bones you've seen may have looked all dried up, like skeletons, yours really live and grow inside you. Bones are always growing and they're strongest in your 20s.

When you're a baby, you have more than 300 bones, but by the time you're an adult you'll only have 206 because some of your bones join together as you grow. To be able to grow, strong bones need lots of calcium and weight-bearing physical activity. Click here to find out how calcium and weight-bearing physical activity make bones strong.