Your bones are your body’s support structure and frame. Bones are constantly remodeling themselves by absorbing old bone and replacing it with new bone. By your mid-30s, however, your body starts to lose more bone than it replaces. The result can be weaker bones.

Doctors call osteoporosis a “silent disease” because the condition often has no symptoms. The first sign a person has the condition is often a painful bone fracture.

Symptoms that could signal osteoporosis include progressive loss of height over time and a rounded upper back known as a dowager’s hump.

If you are at risk for osteoporosis or have experienced a bone fracture, a doctor may recommend a bone mineral density (BMD) test. A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan is the most common BMD test. Similar to an X-ray, this painless test measures your bone density, especially at the hip and spine.

A DEXA scan can help determine how strong your bones are while letting your doctor monitor your bone density. This can confirm whether treatments are necessary and if so, whether or not they are working.

Risk factors you cannot control include:

• having already experienced menopause
• family history of osteoporosis
• female gender, especially females of Caucasian or Asian origin
• history of age-related height loss
• history of broken bones
• history of hormone-related medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism and Cushing’s disease
• history of osteopenia
• low body mass
• age older than 50

Risk factors that are within your control include:

• excess alcohol consumption
• excess amounts of caffeine, protein and sodium in your diet
• lack of calcium and vitamin D in your daily diet
• lack of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet
• lack of regular physical activity
• long-term use of certain medications, including anticonvulsants and glucocorticoids
• smoking/tobacco use