Part 1: Close Up Radio Spotlights Orthopedic Physician Dr. John V. Foley

Reno, NV – Osteoporosis means bones become more fragile due to structural bone loss from aging. Bones become porous so they don't have the structural integrity they once had.

According to board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic physician Dr. John V. Foley, osteoporosis is a nationwide epidemic, and the problem is only getting worse.

One half of the women in the US will experience a fragility fracture at some point in their life, and the risk factors for men aren’t much better. As the baby boomer generation continues to age, Dr. Foley expects we will see more and more fractures.

“In my 30 years doing orthopedics, it's still a whisper and not a scream,” says Dr. Foley. “I see billions of dollars being spent treating fractures instead of preventing them unless we have a national wake up call.”

One of the main problems for preventing osteoporosis, says Dr. Foley, is that osteoporosis is a silent disease: you do not know you have it until you fracture a bone.

“Unless you kind of stir the pot with your doctor, you won't know you're at risk,” says Dr. Foley, “but there are ways to diagnose your bone health.”

“There is a low dose radiologic study called a DEXA scan that assesses your bone health and the structural integrity of the bone,” says Dr. Foley.

“We start very simply with lifestyle changes like not smoking, not drinking to excess, resistive bone weight bearing exercises to maintain current bone health. We also worry about fall risk, and we talk a lot about fall prevention.”

For more information, visit www.jvfoleymd.com