Roughly 10 million Americans already have osteoporosis, and another 44 million have low bone density that puts them at risk, according to the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation. The disease is responsible for about two million broken bones a year in the United States.
It is called the silent disease because it typically produces no symptoms at all. The National Institutes of Health's NIAMS notes that people often do not know they have it until a bone breaks. Still, several subtle changes can appear years before that first fracture. Here are eight worth knowing.
The eight signs to watch for
1. You are getting shorter. Losing an inch or more of height is one of the most consistent signals of spinal bone loss, per Cleveland Clinic. It can reflect small compression fractures in the vertebrae that a person never felt happen.
2. A stoop or hunch appears in your upper back. Changes in your natural posture, such as stooping or bending forward, can point to spinal bone loss or fracture, Cleveland Clinic explains. NIH describes the same pattern as kyphosis and links it to vertebral fracture.
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3. Unexplained back or neck pain. Back pain, especially sudden or severe pain, can be the first outward sign of a compression fracture in the spine, according to AARP and NIH.
4. Weakening grip strength. A softer handshake sounds trivial, but low grip strength is associated with declining muscle strength, more frailty and a higher risk of falling and breaking a bone, AARP reports.
5. Brittle fingernails. Nails that split or break easily may reflect nutritional gaps that also weaken bone, AARP notes in its rundown of warning signs. It is a soft signal on its own, but worth flagging alongside other clues.
6. Receding gums and loose teeth. Bone loss in the jaw can show up in the dentist's chair before it shows up anywhere else. A 2024 review in the journal Diagnostics reports that osteoporosis is associated with periodontitis and tooth loss, with evidence pointing to a two-way relationship.
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7. Shortness of breath. If vertebrae in the spine compress far enough, they can reduce lung capacity, according to Cleveland Clinic.
8. Breaking a bone from a minor fall. The clearest sign is also the latest one. Cleveland Clinic calls it the most common symptom of the disease, meaning a fracture from a small fall or accident that ordinarily would not hurt you.
Who is most at risk
Osteoporosis is the major cause of fractures in postmenopausal women and in older men, NIAMS states. Estrogen drops after menopause, and men become more vulnerable after age 70. Long-term use of glucocorticoids, a class of steroid drugs prescribed for conditions such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, also raises risk.
Women are roughly four times as likely to develop osteoporosis as men, and about half of women and one-quarter of men over 50 will break a bone because of low bone density or osteoporosis, per AARP.
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What to do next
None of these signs alone confirm osteoporosis, but several together are a reason to raise the topic with a doctor. A bone density test, most often a DEXA scan, uses low-dose X-rays to measure how much calcium and other minerals are in the bones, Cleveland Clinic explains. Talk to your doctor about screening, especially if you are postmenopausal, over 70, or have used corticosteroids long-term.
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This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.