Keeping bones strong after menopause

Over a third of women in the UK will have a bone fracture due to osteoporosis in their lifetime. Here’s how to reduce your risk...

There are some good changes that happen when we get older. We hopefully get a little wiser, and it seems that happiness increases with age, but other health conditions may develop – including changes to your bones and skeleton.

That’s because bones are not static – there is a continual cycle of them being broken down by the body and rebuilding again. Bone loss, where the bones become thinner, is a part of aging, but soon after the menopause women undergo a period of more rapid bone loss. This is due to falling levels of oestrogen.

Oestrogen helps the body to absorb calcium, which is essential to maintain bones. In the first five to seven years after the menopause women will lose, on average, approximately one-fifth of their bone mass, which is why women are more likely to develop osteoporosis than men. If you’ve had premature menopause you are even more likely to develop osteoporosis, which is one of the reasons why HRT is offered to women who have premature ovarian insufficiency. At age 50, approximately two women out of every 1,000 have osteoporosis, and this rises to about one in every four women at age 80.

Other risk factors for developing osteoporosis include having a family history of the condition, taking medication over a long period of time which can impact the bones, such as steroids, and a history of an eating disorder.

As the bone loss progresses, you are at increased risk of developing fractures.