Osteoporosis is a condition that weakens your bones so they break more easily. While it’s widely known that women can get this disease some have asked “Can Men Get Osteoporosis?” Unfortunately, the answer is yes. In fact, about 25% of the fractures that happen in people who are over the age of 50 occur in men.

What Osteoporosis in Men Is

Oftentimes doctors will refer to this disease as a “silent condition” because people won’t typically notice that they have any symptoms until after they’ve fractured a bone. The most common symptoms include loss of height, postural changes, and pain. While this isn’t as typical in men as it is in women it does occur.

The reason more women suffer from osteoporosis is that men typically have a larger skeleton. Therefore they’re not as likely to experience a sudden drop in their estrogen levels which is something that women do frequently experience once they become menopausal. Any bone mass loss that men experience does occur at a slower rate.

Treating Ostoporosis in Men

There are several things men can do to decrease the likelihood of developing this disease.

First, you can make sure you’re getting plenty of exercise. Your doctor may even suggest that you see a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist to help you create a routine that’s right for you. Typically these programs won’t have a lot of running, jumping, or twisting in them. Instead, they’ll focus on strength training – something that’s bothe beneficial and safe for you to do.

Secondly, you’ll need to make sure that you’re including plenty of calcium in your diet (about 1,300 mg per day). This doesn’t mean that you need to fill up on dairy products though. Instead, you can also get plenty of calcium from foods like breads, cereals, tofu, legumes, fruits and vegetables, fish with edible bones (e.g. tinned salmon and sardines), tahini, almonds, figs and foods fortified with calcium. If you’re still not getting enough calcium your doctor may suggest taking supplements – something that’s also true for Vitamin D if you’re not getting enough of it from the sun.

The Bottom Line

Now that you know the answer to “Can Men Get Osteoporosis?” is a resounding yes, you may want to try to follow some of these suggestions so you’re healthier. At the very minimum, leading a healthy lifestyle really is something everyone should be striving for anyway.