Do patients with osteoporosis need medication or can they reverse osteoporosis without bisphosphonates?  Prior to this class of medication, bioidentical hormone, weight bearing exercise and calcium as the ‘big 3’ were able to completely reverse bone loss and return osteoporotic bones back to normal bone density.  So are bisphosphonates really needed?  The controversy surrounding all bisphosphonates is whether the increased bone that is built may not be as strong or of the same  integrity as normal bone.  However, this is not discovered by routine bone densitometry testing but only by bone biopsy which is only done in a research setting.  Thus the newest recommendation is to use bisphosphonates for 5 years and then stop the medication but continue Estradiol, weight bearing exercise and calcium. 

By the way, if you have experienced height loss, it’s not always bone loss.  In fact, most height loss is disc compression, disc herniation or muscular weakness of the fine muscles that hold the vertebra apart.  So can you really do weight bearing exercise that specifically targets your back muscles?  Yes; and  we offer gift cards for free consultation and 3 free peronal training sessions with a gym that specializes in the spine; check us out at our website, victoriajmondlochmdsc.com.