A fifty-five year-old American woman named Jill went skiing several years ago. Although she was a good skier, she fell on a difficult hill. She attempted to get up, but could not move one leg. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors found she had broken a bone in her upper leg. And there was another discovery in the hospital. She had osteoporosis.

一位名叫Jill的55岁妇女几年前去滑雪。虽然她是一名滑雪高手，还是摔到了险峻的高山上。她试图站起来，但是一条腿不能移动了。之后她被送往医院，医生发现她的腿上方一条骨头骨折。在医院，他们还发现，她患有骨质疏松症。

Osteoporosis can make it hard for a person to stand up straight if the disease is untreated for a long time. When it has progressed very far, walking can be difficult. Severe osteoporosis in older adults can take away their independence.

如果长期不进行治疗的话，骨质疏松症会导致一个人很难站直。如果进一步发展，行走都非常困难。若年长者患有严重的骨质疏松症，可能会使他们丧失独立性。

Before people develop osteoporosis, they have a condition called osteopenia. Treatment can prevent this condition from becoming osteoporosis. Doctors agree that the best way to deal with osteopenia or osteoporosis is to find and treat it before the disease progresses. Bone damage need not be permanent. Drugs can help replace lost bone.

人们在患上骨质疏松症之前，首先会骨质减少。如果及时进行治疗，可以避免这种状况发展成骨质疏松症。医生同意，应对骨质疏松症或者骨质减少最好的办法就是在病情发展之前及时发现并进行治疗。骨骼损坏不一定是持久的。服用药物可以帮助替代破损的骨骼。

Another way to measure bone-density is called peripheral bone mineral density testing. It is often used in the United States to show people if they are in danger of osteoporosis. A moveable machine does the test.

测量骨骼密度的另外一个方法叫做外围骨骼矿物质密度测试。在美国，经常用这种测试方法来告诉人们有没有患骨质疏松症的风险。这种测试是用一种可以移动的仪器进行的。

Differences in bone mineral density among body parts are most often found in women who recently ended their childbearing years. The density may be normal at one place but low at another. Bone mineral density in the spine decreases first. A woman's bone mineral density becomes about the same in all parts of her body after she is seventy years old.

在刚刚结束哺乳期的大部分女性中发现，不同的身体部位中骨骼矿质密度不同。在某个身体部位密度正常，但是在另外一个部位可能偏低。脊椎中的骨骼密度是最先降低的。七十岁之后，女性所有身体部位的骨质密度完全相同。