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page: Search posts:  Understanding Bone Strength  Posted Aug 08
2010 10:50am  Bone is a mineralized living tissue which is
constantly being broken down and rebuilt or remodeled. In fact,
the body grows the equivalent of an entirely new skeleton every
7 years. There are two main types of cells that are crucial to
bone remodeling – osteoblasts, and osteoclasts. The job of
osteoblasts is to build new bone, and the job of osteoclasts is
to break down bone. In healthy bone tissue, osteoblasts and
osteoclasts work in balance with one another, routinely breaking
down bone when needed by the body, and then rebuilding bone
tissue to replace and strengthen the bone. When bone remodeling
begins to favor break down of bone by osteoclasts over bone
formation by osteoblasts, bone strength may be affected.
Everyone is at risk. It is a common misconception that only
older women need to worry about bone loss. In fact, both men and
women will begin to lose 0.5-1% of