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Osteoporosis: the signs, who is at risk, the bone test, and preventing broken bones
For anyone told they have weak bones or low bone density, anyone who broke a bone from a small fall, and anyone wondering whether they need a bone density test. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) calls osteoporosis a “silent” disease: you usually have no symptoms until a bone breaks. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: the signs, who is more likely to get it, the test and what to tell the doctor, food, calcium and vitamin D, habits, exercise and the kinds of medicine, and how to prevent falls. It puts first our own rule for when it cannot wait after a fall, builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- After a fall, someone cannot get up, cannot stand or put weight on a leg, or a bone looks out of place: call 911 (ours). Do not move someone who may have hurt their neck or back unless they are in danger (ours). See our page on broken bones.
- Sudden, severe back pain, or a bone that hurts after a small fall, bending, lifting or even a cough: see a doctor the same day (ours). NIAMS says weak bones can break this way, and that severe back pain, loss of height or a hunched posture can be signs of a broken bone in the spine.
- Thinking about suicide: call or text 988, any time.
More help
- Related: Broken bones · Back pain · Getting older · Menopause · Arthritis · Quit smoking · Food help · Pain, bones and joints: find the right page.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · My medicines list · Get ready for your appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIAMS’s Osteoporosis page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed December 2022). The calcium and vitamin D chart is the one on that page, which cites the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (November 2018); the screening advice is the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s, as NIAMS reports it. Ours: calling 911 when, after a fall, someone cannot get up, cannot stand or put weight on a leg, or a bone looks out of place, and not moving someone who may have hurt their neck or back unless they are in danger; seeing a doctor the same day for sudden, severe back pain or a bone that hurts after a small fall, bending, lifting or a cough; calling or texting 988 for thoughts of suicide; asking what a test or a medicine would change and what it costs; asking a pharmacist before taking a supplement with other medicines; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any brand or dose, any exercise program, and NIAMS’s research pages and its separate pages on juvenile osteoporosis, osteoporosis in men, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and preventing another broken bone. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.