Heavy or chronic drinking is an established, dose-related risk factor for osteoporosis and fracture. UK guidance is no more than 14 units a week — here's what alcohol does to your bones.
Losing height or a new stoop can be a sign of spinal (vertebral) fractures from osteoporosis — and they're often silent. UK guidelines flag height loss of 4cm or more for a bone check. Here's what to do.
Smoking is a proven, independent risk factor for weaker bones and fractures: it lowers oestrogen, harms bone-building cells and slows healing. The good news — quitting helps your bones recover over time.
Can osteoporosis be reversed? Usually not fully — but bone loss can be slowed, stabilised and sometimes modestly improved. What exercise, nutrition and treatment realistically achieve, and why monitoring matters.
Which exercises build bone and which to be cautious with if you have osteoporosis: UK guidance on weight-bearing impact, strength training, balance work like tai chi, and spinal movements to adapt.
Fracture risk is more than a bone density number. See how FRAX estimates your 10-year fracture probability, how UK NOGG thresholds guide treatment, and why bone quality matters too.
Is osteoporosis hereditary? Yes — bone density is strongly influenced by genes and a parent's hip fracture raises your risk (and feeds into FRAX). But genes aren't destiny: a baseline and prevention still matter.
Yes — men get osteoporosis too. Around 1 in 5 UK men over 50 break a bone because of it. Male risk factors, when to be assessed, and how DXA and FRAX work.
In the UK, a bone density T-score of -1.0 or above is normal, -1.0 to -2.5 is osteopenia and -2.5 or below is osteoporosis. Under-50s use a Z-score instead.
Osteopenia means lower-than-normal bone density — a DXA T-score between -1.0 and -2.5. It's a risk marker, not a disease. Here's what causes it and what to do.
Weight-bearing and resistance exercise build bone — swimming and cycling don't. Here's what UK guidelines and the evidence say about training safely for stronger bones.
Can you improve bone density naturally? Here's what the evidence really shows about exercise, diet and lifestyle for stronger bones — with honest UK guidance and no overclaiming.
Osteoporosis is usually silent — there are no reliable early symptoms until a bone breaks. Here's what UK evidence really says about the signs, the risk factors, and how to find out before a fracture.
Osteoporosis weakens bones silently as resorption outpaces new bone. Here's what causes it — ageing, menopause, medications and hidden conditions — and the UK risk factors you can change.