“Sticks and stones may break my bones,” the familiar children’s rhyme goes. But if you are a nurse suffering from osteoporosis (porous bones), such routine on-the-job activities as lifting patients or carrying heavy medical equipment could put you at risk for a serious fracture of the hip, spine or wrist.
Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue. It is often called the “silent disease,” because victims have no symptoms of how fragile their bones have become until a fracture occurs. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center, osteoporosis is a major public health threat for 25 million Americans. Two key factors put today’s aging RN population at especially high risk: 80% of osteoporosis victims are women, and the risk increases after menopause.
Asian nurses, in particular, have strong reason to be concerned about developing this serious disease. The National Asian Women’s Health Organization (NAWHO) estimates that more than one-fifth of Asian American women currently suffer from osteoporosis. The NIH notes that Caucasian and Asian women are more predisposed to the condition than black or Hispanic women, due largely to differences in bone mass and density.
“Asian nurses typically have a shorter body stature than Caucasian nurses,” adds Alice Chan, RN, a Sacramento, Calif.-based public health nurse who serves on the national advisory board for NAWHO’s Living Healthy osteoporosis education program. “Even when a hospital bed is adjusted to the lowest level, there is still potential for us to strain our backs when leaning over to lift heavy patients. In many cases, hospitals’ physical standards do not accommodate nurses whose height is less than five foot two.”
But even though Asian nurses are at the top of the risk ladder, osteoporosis doesn’t discriminate. African-American and Hispanic nurses are threatened by the disease as well.
“All women are at risk,” maintains Dr. Felicia Cosman, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University and clinical director of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. “Even African-American women, who seem to have the lowest risk of all the racial and ethnic groups, have a one-in-eight chance of suffering a significant fracture due to osteoporosis, compared to one-in-two for a Caucasian or Asian woman. That’s still a fairly high risk, and it may increase substantially with age.”
Although a number of medications are available for treating osteoporosis, the disease has no cure—making prevention the best defense. The NIH offers these recommendations for keeping bones strong:
Women who have a family history of osteoporosis or are otherwise at high risk should see their physician for a bone density test in order to determine a further course of action. “When your periods start to become very irregular, that’s the time to get a bone density test—and push for it if your doctor says no,” advises Cosman. “Not everyone needs a bone density test at menopause, but if you have any of the clinical risk factors, you should strongly consider getting the test. If the results reveal that you fall into or close to the osteoporosis range, you will probably need to be treated with some medication.”
More information about osteoporosis risk factors and treatment, targeted to specific racial and ethnic minority groups, can be found online at www.osteo.org.
If you are a nurse who has been diagnosed with osteoporosis, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to give up your physically strenuous career. But what will you have to do differently on the job to reduce your risk of suffering a debilitating fracture or other bone injury? Chan and Cosman have these suggestions: