What Might Have Happened to Emily? Essay Example

Senior citizens often experience injuries that are solely related to their age. As a person’s age goes up, most of the time, their health will begin to decline. Broken bones in senior citizens are the number one reason for admission to a hospital and when coupled with obesity, they are at even more risk to sustain a fracture. As a person approaches late adulthood, two things are likely to happen to their body, weight gain and brittle bones.

Weight gain in senior citizens is a common occurrence.  Many seniors lose muscle mass over time, but continue to eat the same as they did when they were younger. As a result of being less active, fat amounts increase. Hormones fluctuate and their metabolism slows down and it becomes more difficult to lose weight.

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones. Bones become so brittle and porous that simple processes like bending down and sneezing can cause fractures. The most common areas affected by osteoporosis is the hip, wrist, or spine. When a person is young, new bone tissue is made by bones in a process of absorbing old bone and replacing it with new bone. By age thirty five, the body starts to lose more bone tissue faster than it can make it. When the old bone is not replaced by new tissue, the old bones become weak and brittle.

In the case of 64 year old Emily, she is suffering from both obesity and osteoporosis. The extra weight Emily carried had to be supported by leg and thigh bones that had been intensely affected by osteoporosis. The weakened femur and tibia bones were unable to sustain the weight of Emily’s body.  The physician will first advice Emily that she needs to lose weight through diet and exercise. To treat her brittle bones, Emily will most likely receive medication for osteoporosis, and will have to increase her intake of calcium and vitamin D to improve the amount of new bone tissue made.