Lately, as a new osteopenia patient, I find myself drowning in a sea of unfamiliar words. Osteoporosis I’d heard of. But osteopenia… huh? I realize T-score has nothing to do with little kids hitting baseballs off a tee. And bisphosphates, despite vague memories of my grandma trying to doctor me, have nothing to do with a stomachache (except perhaps to give you one).
So I figured I’d better compile a top-10 list of common osteoporosis vocabulary words, and study up on ’em. I did this during breast cancer, when I couldn’t tell radiology from radiation, and didn’t realize adjuvant therapy was a fancy way of saying chemo. It helped. And if you’re an osteo-newbie like me, maybe this will help you, too. Especially since it’s written in plain English, rather than medical-speak.
The following words and terms aren’t in alphabetical order. They’re in order of how you might need to access them, from your first hint of trouble right up through active treatment. Even if you’re an osteo-pro, use this list as a refresher course: you never know when a friend might ask you the details of the T-score system, right?!
Osteopenia: This is a condition that can (but doesn't necessarily) lead to osteoporosis. It’s like those first autumn leaves that drift down, way before the others; they don’t add up to much, but they signal what’s on the horizon. Osteopenia is a thinning of the bones. The calcium and other minerals that make up your bones are packed less densely, which means your bones are more porous, which means they can break more easily. Technically, osteopenia is when your T-score (see below) is between –1 and –2.5.
Osteoporosis: The big daddy. The reason we’re all here on this site. Either we have it, we’re on the way, or we’re trying to prevent it. Osteoporosis is when your bones are significantly less dense than normal, because they’re less tightly packed with calcium and other minerals. Technically, it’s when your T-score drops below –2.5. This can happen for a number of reasons. The main ones are age; menopause; and the use of steroids, steroidal drugs, or other drugs that promote a loss of bone density.
So, what’s the big deal? Unfortunately, the thinner and lighter your bones are, the more likely they are to fracture. And that doesn’t mean just a broken wrist. It means hip fractures and spinal fractures. A series of small spinal fractures can compress your spine, leading to poor posture and eventually to that bent-over, crippling stance colloquially called “dowager’s hump” or “widow’s hump.” Osteoporosis can have a huge impact on your health, mobility, and lifestyle; it’s critical to do everything possible to head it off.
Bone mass/bone density: These terms are interchangeable. And they refer to how thick/heavy/tightly packed with minerals your bones are. The more tightly packed—the denser your bones—the stronger they are, and the less likely to break. Bone density is what your doctor measures and tracks over time, to see if you’re on the way to osteoporosis.
