Osteoporosis is a bone disease that makes bones weaker and more likely\u00a0to break. Anyone can develop osteoporosis, but women are more likely to\u00a0develop osteoporosis than men, and it\u2019s more common later in life.<\/p>\n
There are no signs or symptoms of osteoporosis. People usually don\u2019t know\u00a0they have it until a bone breaks unexpectedly, often from a minor fall. That\u2019s\u00a0why it\u2019s so important to get a bone density test to measure your bone strength.<\/p>\n
What is a bone density test?<\/strong> It\u2019s the only test that can tell you if you have osteoporosis or not. It can also: At your next visit, ask your primary care provider about scheduling a bone\u00a0density test and what steps you can take to prevent weak bones and lower your risk for osteoporosis.<\/p>\n (Sources: National Institutes of Health; National Osteoporosis Foundation; UpToDate)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Osteoporosis is a bone disease that makes bones weaker and more likely\u00a0to break. Anyone can develop osteoporosis, but women are more likely to\u00a0develop osteoporosis than men, and it\u2019s more common later in life. There are no signs or symptoms of osteoporosis. People usually don\u2019t know\u00a0they have it until a bone breaks unexpectedly, often from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[806,978,805,685],"class_list":["post-10143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicare","tag-bmd","tag-bone-density-test","tag-bone-mineral-density","tag-osteoporosis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/bone-density-e1554751807730.png?fit=350%2C566&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZGa-2DB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10143"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10146,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10143\/revisions\/10146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nA bone mineral density (BMD) test measures how strong your bones are.\u00a0A BMD test is advised for all women ages 65 and older. Your doctor may\u00a0also recommend it if you are at high risk for osteoporosis\u2014whether you\u2019re\u00a0a man or a woman.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Predict your risk of fractures.
\n\u2022 Let you know if you have osteoporosis after a fracture.
\n\u2022 See if osteoporosis treatment is making your bones stronger.<\/p>\n