By Alexander Germanis
So crucial a part of human physiology is the spine, we use the phrase “is the backbone of” to metaphorically indicate someone or something’s vital importance to the proper functioning of anything from a company to a nation. And the phrase, “to show a little backbone,” intimates a display of fortitude and bravery. There is perhaps no structure in the human anatomy that is so representative of the positive attributes of strength and courage than the spine.
How terrible it is then that one of the greatest ravages of age, osteoporosis of the vertebrae, can rob so many of their strength and their ability to function properly.
Osteoporosis literally means “bone pores” or “passages.” Bone, like skin, is living tissue. It is constantly being broken down and rebuilt. Osteoporosis occurs when the bone cannot be rebuilt as fast as it is being worn down. The bone becomes porous, its internal structure weakens and the end result is brittle, weak bone tissue.
Although low hormone levels — estrogen in women and testosterone in men — have also been found to take part in the blame for osteoporotic onset, an insufficient intake of calcium and vitamin D have been known, for a long time, to be major culprits. Calcium is also required by the heart and the nervous and muscular systems to function properly. In essence, they see bones as a storehouse for calcium and steal it in order to maintain function. Should these calcium stores in the bone not be constantly replenished, osteoporotic condition will result.
Think of bones as a house in the state of a major remodel. If the demolition is carried out unabated and load-bearing structures are temporarily removed but rebuilding materials are slow in getting to the worksite, there could be danger of structural collapse. Furthermore, if workmen on neighboring projects are stealing the existing building materials to maintain their own work, the strength of the structure is compromised and the threat of total collapse is more severe.
This threat of structural collapse is particularly frightening when that structure is as crucial as the spine. More frightening still are the sheer number of Americans, estimated at 700,000 per year, who suffer from an osteoporotic fracture or fractures of the spinal vertebra or vertebrae. Of those,150,000 will require hospitalization for eight days or more. The annual cost per annum for treatment of osteoporotic fractures of all types is a shocking 19 billion dollars.
Dr. Ramsin Benyamin, president and founder of Millennium Pain Center in Bloomington, is an expert in diagnosing and treating osteoporotic fractures of the spine. He is also more than familiar with the dangerous statistics surrounding this epidemic.
Although osteoporosis affects both men and women, women are at higher risk. “Eighty percent of women over the age of 80 have osteoporosis,” he explains, “and 40 percent of them are going to get an osteoporotic fracture.”
Worse still, he further explains, for those who have had one fracture — men or women — the likelihood of them suffering another fracture “within a year is fivefold. [For] those who have had two fractures, the risk is twelvefold. These are huge numbers.”
Those numbers become even more alarming when paired with mortality rates. “People with fractures in the spine have a nine times higher mortality rate. This thing is very real,” Dr. Benyamin warns. “It’s serious; it’s common. And there are serious consequences.”
That list of consequences is dire. So dire, in fact, that “the day the patient becomes immobile, their loss of function is more than if they have a stroke or heart attack,” the doctor adds.
Vertebral fractures lead to immobility that, in turn, leads to all of the risks associated with extended immobility. “The more they stay in bed,” Dr. Benyamin says, “the more they lose muscle function, lung function, and strength [due to] muscle wasting. They develop complications with pneumonia, constipation, risk of blood clots, decubitus ulcers (otherwise known as pressure sores), stones, anxiety, depression, and loss of appetite.”
As if that laundry list of risks is not bad enough, he continues, “You lose two percent bone density every week you’re in bed.” This then increases the chance of another fracture, which then increases the chance of more immobility. “It’s a snowball effect,” he adds.
“You don’t have to suffer,” Dr. Benyamin assures. “Osteoporotic fractures of the spine are treatable!”
Find out just how vertebral fractures are fixed in “A Treatable Epidemic, Part Two,” in next month’s issue of Healthy Cells.
Millennium Pain Center, located at 1015 S. Mercer Avenue in Bloomington, provides the most advanced and comprehensive pain management for a wide variety of conditions. For more information, you may contact them at 309-662-4321 or online at www.millenniumpaincenter.com.
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