If you're over 30, it is not too soon to start formulating your personal strategy for dealing with osteoporosis. That is the age when this silent disease usually begins reducing your bone mass and, over a couple of decades, can put you at increased risk for painful and debilitating bone fractures. In this episode of Second Opinion, you'll learn what causes osteoporosis, explore the factors that put you at risk, and learn what you can do to keep your aging bones strong and healthy.

Osteoporosis, which means "porous bones," causes your bones to become so thin and brittle that they can break during activities as routine as lifting a bag of groceries or rolling over in bed.

Ten million Americans have osteoporosis right now, and 34 million more are at risk. With the continued aging of our society, the problem has the potential to get a lot worse if people do not start paying more attention to their bone health.

Osteoporosis is preventable and treatable, and there is a lot you can do at any age to keep the disease from dominating your life. Keeping your bones strong and healthy early on can make the difference between spending the later part of your life as an active, independent adult, or being sidelined in a nursing home with a fractured hip.

Dubbed "the silent thief," osteoporosis creeps up on you slowly. It robs you of bone mass over years and decades, without any obvious symptoms. As you lose bone mass, your bone structure weakens and bones break more easily. For many people, the first clue that they have osteoporosis is a bone fracture, most commonly in the hip, backbone, or wrist.

Osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures every year. While the disease occurs in both sexes, women are four times as likely as men to get osteoporosis - they get it at an earlier age, and they lose more bone mass at a faster rate. It is estimated that one out of every two women and one in four men over the age of 50 will have osteoporosis-related fractures in their lifetime.

While there is no cure for osteoporosis, the problem is being addressed on many fronts. There is a wealth of medical and scientific knowledge about the disease that is being applied to important tasks such as:

• Creating high-profile public education programs to teach people how to reduce controllable risk factors and keep bones strong by eating right, exercising, and making healthy lifestyle changes.
• Research and development of new diagnostic tools and drugs therapies.
• Preventing injury and improving the quality of life for those already suffering from osteoporosis.

If you have osteoporosis, or want to learn what you can do to guard against it, talk with your doctor to find out what is best for you.