1Exercise Prescription for People with Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by com-promised bone strength that results in an increased sus-ceptibility to fracture (35,85). It is estimated that more than 200 million people worldwide currently have osteo-porosis (20), and the prevalence is expected to increase with the increasing lifespan and aging population (21). In the United States alone, an estimated 44 million indi-viduals (55 % of the population older than 50 years) have low bone mass or osteoporosis. This number is predicted to increase to 61.4 million by the year 2020 (82). Because osteoporosis is seen mainly as a disease that affects women, men often go undiagnosed and untreated, yet men are increasingly at risk for osteoporotic fractures. The clinical relevance of osteoporosis is the dramatic increase in risk of fracture. More than 1.5 million frac-tures are associated with osteoporosis each year. Osteo-porotic fractures are low-trauma fractures that occur with forces generated by a fall from a standing height or lower and are most common at the spine, hip, and wrist. Re-gardless of fracture site, adults who fracture are at much greater risk of fracturing again at any location (25). It is estimated that one in two women and one in four me