History of Osteoporosis

June 13th, 2008 No Comments

One of the worst things for a woman as she grows older is Osteoporosis. However, apart
from being a new disease, it has actually been affecting women since the dawn of our
civilization, dating back over 4,000 years to the Egyptians.

The history of Osteoporosis is long. Archeologists and researchers have actually found
Egyptian mummies with the hump that is a tell-tale sign of Osteoporosis.

However, while this may have been a serious problem in the days of Ancient Egypt, it is
much more manageable these days and many women are able to stand straight and tall, well
into their old age.

It was in the 18th century when John Hunter, an English surgeon, discovered something that
would play a critical role in Osteoporosis. He found that as a new bone was laid down in
the body, the old bone would be destroyed or absorbed. This is remodeling and it would be
over 100 years before it became a recognized cause of Osteoporosis.

Then came Jean George Chretien Frederic Martin Lobstein, who was a French pathologist
in the 1830s, and he found that some bones in patients had many larger than normal holes.
He called Osteoporosis, which meant Porous Bone, to describe it.

Over one century later, Full Albright of the Massachusetts General Hospital found that
postmenopausal women were more susceptible to this condition and for having frail bones.
He then went on to define postmenopausal osteoporosis and began treating women for it
with estrogen, which could prevent damage to the skeleton by halting bone loss, but it was
near impossible to detect the disease during the 1940s.

The history of Osteoporosis continued into the 1960s that researchers began to develop
devices which could detect the bone loss. These gave patients a much better chance at
finding the disease early on and dealing with it well in advance. Also, during the 1960s,
Herbert Fleisch found the compounds known as Bisphosphonates, which cause bone
problems for bones attempted to resorb.

The disease was finally publicized as a serious threat to health in 1984 by the National
Institute of Health, and they emphasized that estrogen therapy could reduce the risk of bone
loss, as well as a combination of good nutrition, calcium and exercise.

In 1998, a breakthrough occurred with Rolaxifene, which was used to treat and prevent
postmenopausal Osteoporosis. Coupled with the urging of increasing calcium intake, it
helped to bring hope to a lot of postmenopausal women.

Even while there is a great deal of understanding about this disease, and treatments, it still
affects a lot of people and research is continuing to this day of not only how to prevent it,
but cure it as well. Hopefully, with new breakthroughs women wont have to worry about
Osteoporosis anymore.

Overall, the disease has had a long history with humanity, and a lot of people have suffered
because of it. However, as we move forward into history, we have begun to build our
understanding of this disease to help more and more women from suffering from the
disease, and the history of Osteoporosis is not quite done for humanity