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What
are the symptoms?
Most people with osteoporosis have no symptoms
and are totally unaware that they have the problem.
One early sign can be a loss of height due to
curvature of the spine (Dowager's hump), which
is caused by weakened vertebrae (spine bones).
The weakened vertebrae undergo compression fractures
- tiny breaks that cause the spine bones to collapse
vertically. When this happens, the height of the
vertebrae is decreased, and the shape of each
single vertebra goes from a normal rectangle to
a more triangular form. Although the loss of height
caused by compression fractures can sometimes
be associated with back pain or aching, more typically
it is asymptomatic (causes no symptoms).
Osteoporosis
does not usually cause pain unless there has been
a fracture. When there is no sign of a fracture,
pain in the bones or joints is probably due to
another problem, such as arthritis (a disorder
that affects the cartilage lining the joints),
tendonitis (inflammation of the tendons), or a
disorder of the muscles or connective tissues.
In a similar way, although back pain can sometimes
be caused by osteoporosis, it may also be caused
by arthritis, by a pulled muscle or by diseases
affecting the disks between vertebrae..
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