Bone Health

Caring for your bones is a lifelong project – from building strong bones when you’re young to maintaining bone density as you age. The experts at Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville can help you improve your bone health at every stage of life, using the latest in osteoporosis prevention, testing and treatment.

Women's Bone Health Care
When you come to one of our Baptist Health Deaconess locations for women's bone health care, you will find:

• Women's bone health education: Our physicians work with women of all ages to teach them the basics of good bone health. This includes nutritional counseling (calcium and vitamin D are the keys to good bones) as well as information about the type of exercise that helps build bone and awareness of things that decrease bone density (such as smoking).
• Advanced screening technology: At Baptist Health Deaconess, many of our locations use a technology called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA or DXA) scan to measure female bone density and diagnose osteoporosis.
• Osteoporosis treatment: If you are diagnosed with osteoporosis, the physicians at Baptist Health Deaconess will work with you to find the right medications and lifestyle changes to help improve your bone density.
• Exercise programs for women's bone health: Some of our locations offer targeted exercise programs that are designed to help build stronger bones. We also teach patients balance exercises that will help prevent falls (and resulting fractures).
• Advanced treatment for fractures: Thinning bones can leave you more vulnerable to fracture – especially of the hip, wrist or spine. If you do break a bone, our orthopedic experts will help you heal and get the rehabilitation necessary to regain movement.

Are Women’s Bones Weaker Than Men’s?
Although women are more prone to developing osteoporosis, women’s bones are not necessarily weaker than men’s bones. It is more accurate to say that women tend to have smaller and thinner bones, but not always weaker bones. Out of the estimated 10 million Americans with osteoporosis, 20% are actually men. There are several factors that make women more susceptible to developing osteoporosis. The biggest factor is that once women experience menopause, there is typically a significant loss of bone density due to a reduction in the production of estrogen. Estrogen is what helps to protect bone health.