How do our bones change as we enter old age?

When we are young, our bones are growing. After we stop growing, our bones cycle a continuous healing process. You lose bone mass gradually, and it is replaced by healing processes. This process slows and fails gradually as we grow older. read more

After we stop growing, our bones cycle a continuous healing process. You lose bone mass gradually, and it is replaced by healing processes. This process slows and fails gradually as we grow older. read more

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, osteoporosis and low bone mass affect 44 million men and women ages 50 and older in the United States, or 55% of the people 50 years of age and older. read more

Our bones are made of a dense outer cortex and a spongy inner matrix of boney arches and bridges called trabeculae. When we age, we lose a number of these trabeculae. After age 40, women lose bone twice as fast as men at a range of 1.5 -- 2 percent per year. This rate increases to 3 percent per year after menopause. read more