Know Your Bones

A New Video Challenges Women To Think About Their Bones Like They Do Their Breasts

Six women sit at a table. They are asked very important questions about their personal health. “Do you remember your first breast cancer screening?” “Why is it so important to protect your breasts?” Faces alight with stories of first training bras, laughter over shared experiences and heartfelt sentiments about the importance of being checked annually.

Then they’re asked, “What are you doing to protect your bones?” and a silence falls. “I don’t know,” one says.

This is one conversation at one table in one room, but it says a lot about how so much emphasis has been placed on breast health and screening, but there is little awareness about another very important women’s health issue—osteoporosis. In fact, after menopause the risk of a hip fracture is the same as a woman’s risk of getting breast, uterine and ovarian cancer combined.¹

We captured this conversation to coincide with World Osteoporosis Day on October 20. And we invite you to watch it unfold. 

Many postmenopausal women don’t know that a fracture, or bone break, is often a sign of postmenopausal osteoporosis, and not a sign of aging or clumsiness. After menopause women can lose up to 20 percent of their bone density,¹ which can increase their bone fracture risk.² Diet and lifestyle changes can help, but for women with osteoporosis, that may not be enough.³

Bone breaks can be life-changing too. For example, even two years after breaking a hip, close to one-third of women still need assistance walking.⁴

The purpose of the “Know Your Bones Like You Know Your Breasts” video is to jumpstart the conversation around bone density screenings and make it as natural a conversation among women as is the breast cancer screening conversation.

If there’s someone in your life who would benefit from knowing their bones a little bit better, consider sharing this video with them or directing them to more information at TakeChargeofOsteo.com to pledge to talk to their doctor and ask for a bone density scan.