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Causes
Bone remodeling
Your body builds new bone throughout your lifetime. Sections of old or damaged bone are constantly being dissolved, removed, and replaced with new bone in a process called bone remodeling. Bone remodeling is a process that involves bone resorption and bone reformation.
Children and teens form new bone faster than they destroy old bone. This is why their bones continue to increase in thickness and length. After adolescence, bones no longer lengthen, but bone is still added to the skeleton until around age 35 or 40. The extra bone is packed tightly into the skeleton, increasing bone density and strength.
A gradual, age-related bone loss affects both men and women; however, postmenopausal estrogen deficiency can rapidly accelerate the bone loss process.
What causes postmenopausal osteoporosis?
In women, estrogen slows down the destruction of old bone. When estrogen levels decline at menopause, the destruction of bone speeds up, which sometimes causes postmenopausal osteoporosis.
The result is bone loss. The weakened bones become less densely packed and are said to have low bone density. The lower the bone density, the greater the risk of fracture.
