Osteoporosiss and SCI: Reeve Foundation webinar shares treatment options

Persons with spinal cord injury are at increased risk of bone loss, muscle atrophy and fractures. With that in mind, this past week, the Reeve Foundation hosted Jay Gupta, the Director of Pharmacy and Integrative Health at Harbor Homes in Nashua, NH, as well as an MTM consultant and Yoga Therapist, as part of a one-hour webinar where he provided an overview of osteoporosis and pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments as well as other medications that may impact bone health.

Bone loss is one of the inevitable complications of spinal cord injury. Since people with paralysis don’t typically put weight or pressure on their bones, they tend to lose bone density and often develop osteoporosis. But while osteoporosis in the SCI population first was studied in relation to calcium metabolism and the hypercalcemia and renal calculi that followed, there appear to be differences between SCI-induced AND osteoporosis and other causes of bone loss, such as prolonged bedrest and space travel.

Jay is also the co-founder of RxRelax and YogaCaps where he focuses on chronic disease prevention and sustainable lifestyle change. You can view the recorded version of the webinar by registering HERE.