Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis are two very common conditions that affect older adults. The author of this blog has seen a lot of both conditions and has seen them both together in many older adults.
The problem is – these are two very different conditions that sound the same. What’s the difference?
Breaking down the terms
“Osteo,” the prefix of both conditions, means bone
Osteoporosis
“Porosis” refers to the term “porous” – having spaces or holes. In this case – there are minor holes in the structure of the bone. Bone cells naturally have spaces in them – although these are larger in people with osteoporosis and take up a greater portion of the existing.
If you know you have osteoporosis – people have less bone volume and less bone thickness compared to healthy people of a younger age. This makes people with osteoporosis more likely to fracture or break a bone. Osteoporosis can even impact those who are active.
Osteoarthritis
“Arthritis” means joint (arthro) and inflammation (itis). It was originally thought that osteoarthritis is wearing away of the cartilage on the bone that causes pain. Recent research (1) has challenged that concept as the amount of cartilage loss that a person has on his or her x-ray doesn’t always match the amountof pain that he or she is in.
Certain factors such as…
- Inflammation
- Changes in the nerves in and around the joint
- Increased body weight
- Decreased strength
…can also contribute to osteoarthritis pain.
With both conditions proper exercise and nutrition done by people trained in those conditions (i.e. Physiotherapist or Kinesiologist for exercise, Dietitian or Naturopath for nutrition) can help.
I hope this piece helps to clarify the differences between these two conditions. As always – thanks for reading!
References
Bedson J, Croft PR. The discordance between clinical and radiographic knee osteoarthritis: A systematic search and summary of the literature. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2008;9(1):116. doi:10.1186/1471-2474-9-116.
If you have any questions or would like to explore further, please book a free, no-charge online appointment. Eric Bowman is a physiotherapist in Waterloo.
