Bhubaneswar: With the advancement in medical sciences the treatment of several health ailments is becoming lesser invasive and least cumbersome. With the advent of more advanced and minimal invasive interventions, doctors in the city find such drug assistance a boon for their patients.
Orthopaedic doctors who treat several cases relating to bone disorders claim that advancement in medical sciences have also empowered them to prescribe medicines which make their treatment regime less cumbersome.
Osteoporosis is one of the most common orthopaedic problems triggering pain and discomfort among patients. Lower Bone Mineral Density (BMD) often hints at the deteriorating condition of the bones among such patients. These patients earlier used to inject drugs daily to treat their ailments.
However, doctors now claim that the new treatment regime offers intake of self-injectible drugs at an interval of six months instead of every day, bringing much relief to the patients. While many doctors and patients have already tried this advanced treatment regime, it is yet to reach many patients living with the bone disorder.
“While supplementing with Calcium and Vitamin D remains the first line of treatment for bone loss, a new class of drugs, Denosumab, further helps in slowing down the natural rate at which bones break and prevents risk of fractures. Denosumab is a monoclonal antibody given through a half- yearly injection that works by blocking a protein and suppressing the cells that break down bones,” said Dr PC Dey, Endoscopic Spine and Arthroscopic Surgeon, CARE Hospital, Bhubaneswar.
Osteoporosis, which leads to extreme thinning of bones, is a process usually associated with ageing. However doctors claim that if one leads a largely sedentary life, smoke heavily, consume an unhealthy diet and rarely step out in the sun, they are at a higher risk of developing early osteoporosis.
Dr Dey claims that the disease is usually confined to the elderly but nowadays the youths are also suffering from the disease due to sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles. “Unhealthy eating habits prevalent among the youth prevent adequate intake of calcium while smoking further contributes to poor bone health. We need to consciously correct these lifestyle mistakes to minimize the risk of osteoporosis,” said Dr PC Dey.
Another public health expert, Dr RR Rahul, said that the craze for fast food and unhealthy foods, shunning sunlight, lower intake of calcium-rich diet result in poor bone density and the bone disorders can hit the population at an early age. He added that surveys have hinted at more than half of the national capital population suffered from bone loss.