What is osteoporosis and how does it affect hip or knee replacement?

Things you must know about osteoporosis

Have you noticed how elderly people start to stoop or even seem to become shorter? Or how an elderly person may use walking aids to ensure they do not fall when they walk? Chances are that person has a condition called osteoporosis. But how does this condition affect joint replacement surgery?

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a condition of weakened bones. While this can take place to both men and women especially above the age of 50, women are four times more likely than men to have osteoporosis. Osteoporosis takes place when the insides of the bones become more ‘porous’. Essentially, bone is tissue. The insides of a healthy bone have holes that look like a sponge. The body continuously regenerates tissue to replace old bone tissue. However, due to various causes, sometimes even just age, the bone tissue does not generate fast enough to replace worn out bone tissue. So with osteoporosis, the sponge-like structure of the inside of a bone, becomes hollow. This causes the bone to grow so weak that it becomes brittle.

Women are particularly prone to osteoporosis since after menopause they experience rapid bone loss. It is advisable for women to visit an orthopaedic doctor after menopause to take steps to protect oneself from osteoporosis.

What are some signs of osteoporosis

The challenge with osteoporosis is that it could silently eat away bone without any external symptom and comes to our knowledge only when it has reached a critical stage. What you can watch out for is

·       Losing an inch in height

·       Stooping posture

·       Easily fracturing bones

·       Lower back pain

·       Shortness of breath due to constriction in the rib cage.

The most badly affected part of the body is usually the joints - the hip and knee. You will need to see an orthopaedic doctor if you find any of these symptoms so you can be diagnosed and look at treatment for osteoporosis. You can visit an orthopaedic hospital in Delhi and check any presenting symptoms for osteoporosis. For consulting with an orthopaedic doctor in Gurgaon, you can always make an appointment at the Park Hospitals.

What can you do to prevent osteoporosis?

While an orthopaedic doctor cannot pinpoint a single reason for osteoporosis, it can be a combination of factors that play out differently for different people. However, these are some precautions that definitely help keep your bones healthy.

Taking sufficient calcium and getting a daily dose of Vitamin D: Without Vitamin D which is just a stroll in the sun a few times a week, the body cannot absorb the calcium you consume. Adults must take 1000mg of calcium daily.

Stop smoking: Smoking damages or changes normal bodily processes like regenerating tissue

Avoid daily consumption of liquor: Habitual drinking degenerates bone tissue.

Exercise regularly: A sedentary lifestyle greatly increases your chances of osteoporosis.

Joint Replacement Surgery and osteoporosis

Knee replacement or hip replacement is a surgery most often undertaken for osteoarthritis. Many people with osteoporosis then worry about how it may affect an old or an upcoming knee replacement or hip replacement.

A good knee replacement hospital can perform total knee replacement surgery or TKR surgery on a patient that may be suffering from osteoporosis. Osteoporosis however will affect how the orthopaedic surgeon will go about it. So while consulting with a hip replacement hospital or TKR surgery, speak about your osteoporosis so they may be able to take necessary steps to ensure your surgery is successful.

The other precaution you will need to take after a TKRsurgery or hip replacement, is especially during the healing process to ensure you do not take a fall that can fracture your bones.

When you have osteoporosis after several years post-joint replacement, there are chances that you can break bones near the artificial joint. For this sort of revisional surgery, you will need to consult a top orthopaedic. The Park Hospital has the best knee replacement surgeon in Gurgaon and can devise the best surgery plan for you with osteoporosis.