Osteoporosis [DEXA] result!

.....yes I do, here are my 'T' scores :

'T' scores as follows:

Spine                       -2.3

Spine [L2, L3, L4]    -2.6

Hips                         -1.8

NOF                         -2.6

Forearm                   -2.7

These t-scores are not all that bad.  The osteoporosis cut off is 2.5.  This level was rather arbitrarily set some years ago by the WHO.  You sustained the injury as the result of an accident.  True osteoporosis fractures occur with little trauma.  

Sheilamac gave you some great advice about supplements and nutrition.  If you have concerns about your spine you can get good advice from a physiotherapist to help you protect your spine, as well as exercises which will strengthen the supporting muscles.  There is even a lady posting in this forum who is quite disabled and does pool exercises.  Although swimming is not considered a true weight bearing exercise it is helpful because it strengthens the muscles, and apparently stronger muscles pull on the bones and make them stronger too!

My hip t-score in October 2015 was -2.  In one year, despite being on prednisone for polymyalgia, I improved that score to -1.6, and they are no longer recommending medication!  And I'm not the only person who has been able to improve bone density without the use of drugs.  I think with scores like yours the first line treatment should be natural, as Sheilamac outlined above.  The only side effect will be improved health!

It is good you increased your hip score to -1.6 so I shall be taking the advice gained here, thanks all of you  for that.

My compressed L1 fracture occurred in January from a car crash but two months later I also sustained a cervical 4 & 5 fracture without doing anything traumatic except for bending down to pull a plug out.  A CAT scan confirmed the cervical fracture and on seeing my chiropractor he told me he reckons my cervical fracture was a weakness left over from the crash as previously in 2009  from his x-rays, my cervical area was normal.

I think my bone thinning actually started before I was on pred because I had a broken leg (winter ice related) a year earlier and was, of course, off my feet for several weeks, and then the onset of PMR really slowed me down.  Pred was probably the last straw.  I only had the DXA scan because I asked for it - my doctor wanted to start me on AA with the pred, but thought better of it.  After the scan she tried again but by then I'd done a lot of reading, and also been in touch with a friend who had been diagnosed with OP, but completely naturally had moved to osteopenia range, and continued to improve.  It was she who put me onto things like Vitamin K2, and Nordic walking.  Her bone density improvement has also been confirmed through successive DXA scans!  

My worst one is -4.3 on the lumbar so I feel you are in a good position to make improvements.

,,,,,,prednisone is a synthetic corticosteroid which lowers bone density so would have reduced density further.  What is PMR?

It seems the clinicians I've asked tell you that bone density cannot be increased [probably big-pharma inspired] - so it is heartening to learn that bone  density can be improved by diet, exercise alone.

Yes, we have direct, not hearsay, evidence that bone density can be improved.  Google combination micronutrients bone osteoporosis for a study showing that nutrients work.  

https://patient.info/health/polymyalgia-rheumatica-leaflet

It's thought that PMR actually is aninflammation in blood vessels, a vasculitis, which causes the pain and disability.

Have you checked to see if your bone density has improved from -4.3 taking into account the advice given here? 

Guess it takes some time before improvement is achieved.  I'm now taking vitamin D3 twice a day totalling 10,000 iunits which is the maximum.

I was fortunate that after the first DXA scan the recommendation was for next scan to be done within one to two years, and they actually let me have it done after one.  Now I wait three to five years for next opportunity.  So I did see improvement within one year.  If you can't get the scans done as frequently then you have to wait to find out.  

You can check your vitamin d levels in your blood tests as well as calcium levels. You don't need to take more than required, also not advisable.

I have not had a scan to see if I am not deteriorating or improving.

As I cannot do a lot of exercise I am hopeful of not getting worse. But any improvement would be welcome.

Yes good idea - will get these blood tests to check.  I'm in a similar position to yourself for not being able to do  much exercise, like walking distances because of pain being an after effect from lumbar fracture.  In June getting 3 x MRI's done of my upper, mid and lower spine in the hope of finding a cause for the lower back pain.

An X-ray on the back is a good idea as it could be bulging discs that send nerves down into the lower back. Also, you can have arthritis in the back. My issues come from a sum of things including mild scoliosis, two bulging discs, arthritis and osteoporosis. Degeneration of the spine sums up the end result. In my sacroiliac I have something which we are assuming is a nerve which I try to avoid annoying as it is very debilitating if I set it off.

I can walk a bit but then stop and sit. I cannot stand in one place for long. 

I cannot sit on hard, straight chairs.

But I have not broken anything  since I was a child.