Osteoporosis: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention
Orthopedic ConditionsOsteoporosis

What Is Osteoporosis?

What Is Osteoporosis?
Everyday Health
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Updated on March 20, 2026
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Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones deteriorate or become brittle and fragile due to low bone mass and bone tissue loss. It increases the risk of fractures, particularly of the hips, spine, and wrists.

An estimated 200 million people have this progressive disease, primarily postmenopausal women.

 While there’s no cure, there are medications and lifestyle changes that can help strengthen your bones and protect against fractures.

Signs and Symptoms of Osteoporosis

In its early stages, osteoporosis generally doesn’t cause symptoms.

In many cases, the first symptom a person may have is a broken bone. This is often as a result of a fall, and most frequently in the spine, wrist, hips, or pelvis.

Over time, a person with osteoporosis may experience:

  • back pain
  • loss of height
  • stooped posture
  • easily occurring bone fractures

Causes and Risk Factors of Osteoporosis

Bone is not a static part of the body — it’s constantly being resorbed (broken down) and formed throughout your life. During your childhood and teenage years, bone formation occurs more quickly than bone resorption, resulting in growth.

You reach your maximum bone density and strength around age 30, after which time bone resorption slowly overtakes bone formation.

Osteoporosis develops when there’s an abnormal imbalance between bone resorption and formation — that is, resorption occurs too quickly, or formation too slowly.

Anything that causes your body to destroy too much bone can cause your bones to become brittle or fragile.

Women experience the most bone loss during the first few years after menopause, and they continue to lose bone from this point on. This is because estrogen encourages bone health, so a decrease in the hormone will hasten the weakening of bones.

Numerous factors are associated with a higher risk of developing osteoporosis. Some people who develop osteoporosis have several risk factors, but others have none. These factors include:

  • Being a woman, particularly in your postmenopausal years
  • Having a family history of fractures
  • Being age 50 or older
  • Lower bone mass
  • Smoking
  • Having low estrogen levels (from menopause or missing menstrual periods) in women, or low testosterone in men
  • Excessive alcohol consumption
  • Anorexia or bulimia
  • Dietary deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D
  • Lack of exercise
  • Long-term use of certain drugs, including glucocorticoids and some anticonvulsants

How Is Osteoporosis Diagnosed?

To determine whether you have osteoporosis, your doctor will assess your risk factors and perform a bone mineral density (BMD) test. The most common BMD test is called DXA (also abbreviated DEXA), or dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. This scan is painless and is similar to having an X-ray taken, but with less exposure to radiation.

T-scores, which compare a person’s bone mineral density to average values for healthy young women, are used to measure DXA outcomes. Here’s how to understand your score:

  • Normal: T-score of -1.0 and above
  • Osteopenia (low bone density): T-score of -1.1 to -2.4
  • Osteoporosis: T-score of -2.5 and below
A tool called FRAX can assess your probability of bone fracture in the next 10 years. This helps you and your doctor determine what course of treatment may be best in your situation.

Osteoporosis may also be diagnosed based on fragility fractures alone. This means a break that happens when you fall from standing height or below.

Treatment and Medication Options for Osteoporosis

A variety of medication and lifestyle approaches can help slow the rate of bone loss that occurs in osteoporosis.

Medication Options

There are many types of medications available to treat osteoporosis. These include:

  • Biophosphonates These drugs reduce bone turnover, leading to denser bones. Side effects include gastrointestinal issues and muscle aches.
  • Monoclonal Antibodies Denosumab (Prolia) is given as an injection. This treatment is usually only used when others have failed.
  • Hormone Therapy Estrogen therapy, like raloxifene (Evista), can be used in women to maintain bone density.
  • Anabolic Drugs This drug class promotes bone growth, which can be helpful in people with severe osteoporosis. These drugs include teriparatide (Bonsity), abaloparatide (Tymlos), and Romosozumab (Evenity).

You should speak to your doctor about the best strategy for you, based on your bone mineral density, estimated fracture risk, lifestyle, and any other medical conditions you may have.

Lifestyle Changes and Prevention of Osteoporosis

About 85 to 90 percent of adult bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and 20 in boys, so building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can help prevent osteoporosis later in life.

As an adult, there are some lifestyle choices you can make to help prevent osteoporosis, such as:

  • Not Smoking In addition to being harmful to the heart and lungs, smoking is also bad for bones, since those who smoke may absorb less calcium from the foods they eat.
  • Avoiding Drinking Alcohol in Excess People who drink a lot of alcohol are more prone to bone loss and broken bones due to poor diet and risk of falling.
  • Following a Healthy Diet Following a nutritious diet that is rich in calcium and vitamin D is critical to bone health.
  • Performing Weight-Bearing Exercise Physical activities that force you to work against gravity, such as walking and hiking, strengthen your bones and your muscles.

How Long Does Osteoporosis Last?

There’s no cure for osteoporosis — once it develops, it’s a lifelong condition — but you can work to protect and strengthen your bones. The right treatment plan, including weight-bearing and muscle-building exercise, a healthy diet, and medication, can slow further bone loss.

Complications of Osteoporosis

Bone fractures are the most serious complication of osteoporosis. These fractures usually result from minor falls or accidents, but spinal fractures may also occur if the vertebrae (spinal bones) weaken to the point of crumbling.

While some vertebral fractures cause no symptoms, others can cause back pain and a hunched posture.

Aside from causing pain and altering your posture, osteoporosis and bone fractures can reduce mobility and affect your emotional state. This may lead to depression and anxiety.

The Takeaway

  • Osteoporosis is a chronic condition that affects bone density, primarily in postmenopausal women.
  • While there’s no cure, many medications and lifestyle changes can help address the symptoms and help strengthen your bones.
  • If unaddressed, osteoporosis can make a person more likely to experience severe bone fractures which may impact quality of life.

FAQ

Can you rebuild bone density after developing osteoporosis?
You can’t restore your bone density to what it was at its peak, but you can stimulate bone formation and slow age-related bone loss. Try engaging in weight-bearing and muscle-building exercises, following a healthy diet, and taking one of the drugs approved for the treatment of osteoporosis.
No. It’s believed osteoporosis can be prevented by building strong bones in the first place before age 30. But if you do develop osteoporosis, you can slow your rate of bone loss and possibly increase your bone density by using one or more of the available drugs for osteoporosis, along with healthy lifestyle changes.
Prevention is the best treatment for osteoporosis. Barring that, a combination of regular weight-bearing exercise, a healthy diet high in plant foods, and an osteoporosis drug that you and your doctor agree is safe for you is the best treatment, along with stopping smoking and reducing alcohol intake.

You can strengthen your bones and lower the likelihood that osteopenia (an early sign of low bone mass) will turn into osteoporosis by following a nutritious diet, consuming the recommended amounts of calcium and vitamin D in food or supplements, maintaining a healthy weight, doing weight-bearing exercises regularly, limiting your alcohol intake, and quitting smoking if you smoke.

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Ozmen S et al. Prevalence and Risk Factors of Osteoporosis: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Center. Medicina. December 22, 2024.
  2. Osteoporosis. Mayo Clinic. December 17, 2025.
  3. What Causes Bone Loss? MedlinePlus. May 20, 2024.
  4. Evaluation of Bone Health/Bone Density Testing. Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation. March 8, 2022.
  5. Schini M et al. An overview of the use of the fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) in osteoporosis. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation. October 24, 2023.
  6. Osteoporosis and Fragility Fractures. Oregon Health and Science University.
  7. Denosumab (subcutaneous route). Mayo Clinic. February 1, 2026.
  8. Bandeira L et al. Anabolic therapy for osteoporosis: update on efficacy and safety. Archives of Endocrinology and Metabolism. November 11, 2022.
  9. Osteoporosis Fast Facts [PDF]. Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation.
  10. Prevention. International Osteoporosis Foundation.
  11. Kashfi SS et al. The relationship between osteoporosis and depression. Nature. July 1, 2022.
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Sian Yik Lim, MD

Medical Reviewer
Castle Connolly Top Doctor
Sian Yik Lim, MD, is a board-certified rheumatologist at Hawaii Pacific Health. He is a clinical certified densitometrist, certified by the International Society of Clinical Densitometry. He completed his rheumatology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and was also a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. His research interests include osteoporosis, gout, and septic arthritis. Dr. Lim has published in JAMA, Current Opinions in Rheumatology, Osteoporosis International, Bone, Rheumatology, and Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism.

Lim has authored several book chapters, including one titled “What is Osteoporosis” in the book Facing Osteoporosis: A Guide for Patients and their Families. He was also an editor for Pharmacological Interventions for Osteoporosis, a textbook involving collaboration from a team of bone experts from Malaysia, Australia, and the United States.
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Cathy Cassata

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Cathy Cassata is a freelance writer who specializes in stories about health, mental health, medical news, and inspirational people. She writes with empathy and accuracy, and has a knack for connecting with readers in an insightful and engaging way. Cassata contributes to Healthline, Verywell, Yahoo, and more.

She previously worked for the American Association of Medical Assistants for eight years, writing and editing the magazine, marketing materials, and the website. Cassata completed the editing certificate program at the University of Chicago.

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