Effective & Trusted Medications Guide » Healthy Bones
Rheumatoid spondylitis is a long-term disease that causes inflammation of the joints between the spinal bones and the joints between the spine and the pelvis. It eventually causes the affected spinal bones to join together.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
The cause of ankylosing spondylitis is unknown, but genes seem to play a role.
Why prevent falls at home?
About 1 in 20 falls at home results in a bone fracture and of these, one in five is a hip fracture. Hip fractures have a high mortality rate; some 10 per cent of patients are dead within a month. In addition many older people lose their independence due to falls. While osteoporosis is a major factor in hip fractures, falls from other causes are at least equally significant. It is therefore important to do everything possible to prevent them happening in the first place.
Bone has a complex structure that achieves the maximum amount of strength for the least amount of weight.
It can increase its thickness in areas subjected to repeated heavy loads, repair itself when broken and is the site of manufacture of most of the components of blood (the bone marrow).
If you take a typical bone such as the femur (upper leg bone) and cut it across, you will see there is an outer shell of very hard bone. In the middle space it has a honeycomb structure, through which is mingled the bone marrow.
Bone is made up mostly of collagen fibres, upon which are laid down crystals made from calcium and phosphate that give bone its ability to withstand compression and bending forces.