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Osteoporosis Care

Osteoporosis Care

Osteoporosis, a disease that makes your bones porous and fragile, is twice as common in women than in men. Often called a “silent disease”, many don’t realize they have it until they suffer a broken bone, typically in the hip, wrist or spine, due to bone loss.

You can build better bone health throughout your lifetime with things like proper calcium and vitamin D intake, adding weight bearing exercise to your fitness routine, and avoiding behaviors such as smoking or alcohol use.

Osteoporosis Care

Osteoporosis, a disease that makes your bones porous and fragile, is twice as common in women than in men. Often called a “silent disease”, many don’t realize they have it until they suffer a broken bone, typically in the hip, wrist or spine, due to bone loss.

You can build better bone health throughout your lifetime with things like proper calcium and vitamin D intake, adding weight bearing exercise to your fitness routine, and avoiding behaviors such as smoking or alcohol use.

Our Approach

As you age, it is important to get your bone health checked, especially if you have suffered a fracture that could be related to bone loss.  Our osteoporosis team is here to help.  We are the region’s only Osteoporosis Clinic. Our care starts with a screening questionnaire to evaluate you for risk factors of osteoporosis. From there you get the benefits of our,

  • Multispecialty team, including endocrinologists, orthopaedic surgeons and physical therapists, all located in one place and ready to assess and treat your bone health.
  • Advanced technology: Dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is a bone density test that takes only 10 to 20 minutes.  It is a simple and painless scan that measures bone mineral density in your hip, spine or forearm. 
  • Bone health counseling and risk assessment: It’s never too late - or too early - to do something about osteoporosis. At Augusta University Health, we counsel women of all ages, from adolescents to seniors on how to prevent osteoporosis. 
  • Clinical trials: As part of the region’s only academic medical center, we are actively researching new and improved therapies. Patients may be able to benefit from ongoing clinical trials that offer new treatments to repair or rebuild bone.

It is very important that patients make an appointment with an osteoporosis specialist before a fracture happens. Prevention starts with checking a patient for risk factors and performing tests including:

  • Bone density screening, to measure how strong, or how weak, your bones are.
  • Blood or urine testing, to screen patients for secondary causes of osteoporosis.

Treatments for osteoporosis can range from simple lifestyle modifications to surgery. Our treatments include:

Non-invasive treatments

  • Lifestyle modifications and counseling: Our clinic always emphasizes conservative treatments first, including calcium and vitamin D supplements and weight-bearing exercise to counter or prevent osteoporosis, we also offer nutritional counseling.
  • Medications and hormone therapy: For patients at higher risk for fractures, we offer antiresorptive medications that can help stop bone loss. Other medications, such as Teriparatide, is an FDA-approved drug that can rebuild bone. Our clinic also has expertise in managing the side effects of these medications.

Surgical treatments

  • Advanced fixation and other surgical techniques: Bone healing can be challenging in osteoporosis patients whose bones are already fragile. We specialize in using the latest equipment and techniques for patients with wrist, hip or other fractures or compression fractures resulting in height loss.
 

Our Providers

Augusta University Medical Center specialists provide care and support throughout your entire healthcare journey.

Agochukwu, Uzondu F., MD

Spine & Reconstructive Surgery/Orthopedics

DeVine, John Glenden, MD

Spine & Reconstructive Surgery/Orthopedics

Parada, Stephen A, MD

Orthopaedic Surgery

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