The Great Break is an inspirational, intergenerational story that celebrates the importance of bone health — revolving around “a break” that changes a family’s life.
In this animated video, a daughter in her late 40s discovers that her mother has osteoporosis. Told from the daughter’s perspective, we flash back to the events leading up to her mother’s diagnosis.
Our story begins with the mother and daughter preparing dinner together for a special birthday. The mother slips on the kitchen floor and fractures her wrist. This leads to a bone density scan, uncovering her underlying osteoporosis.
The good news? They catch the disease at its early stages. This discovery is especially fortunate since osteoporosis takes years to develop without any warning symptoms. 1
Thanks to an early diagnosis, they can prevent a much more serious break — which can have devastating consequences on an older person’s mobility.2
With the right medication, foods, and exercise, her mother can still strengthen her bones and slow down bone loss.3
Most importantly, she can continue to live well and spend time with her family doing the things she loves, like walking the dog with her granddaughter and cooking together again.
The diagnosis also makes the daughter wonder if she too could be at risk for osteoporosis. She books an appointment to speak with her doctor about bone health.
The fact is that 2 million Canadians are affected by osteoporosis and at least 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men will experience an osteoporotic fracture at some point in their lives. As bone mass declines with age, the risk is the highest for Canadians 50 years of age and older.4
Shockingly, over 80% of all fractures in people 50+ are caused by osteoporosis. For women approaching menopause and beyond, a big part of that is losing bone mass at an accelerated rate of 2-3 percent every year.6
Slowly weakening bones over the course of years, osteoporosis is a silent disease that typically doesn’t present symptoms.7 Often, the first warning sign is a fragility fracture — a fracture that results from a fall at standing height.8 But fewer than 20% of fracture patients in Canada get diagnosed.9
In this story, the family is lucky enough to find out about osteoporosis and make lifestyle changes before it’s too late.
While many of us take strong bones for granted, The Great Break sheds light on the reality that bone health is important for everyone. Building strong bones and keeping them healthy is essential at all stages of life, especially as we age.
Why wait? Talk to your doctor about bone health and the prevention (and early detection) of osteoporosis.
1https://osteoporosecanada.ca/les-signes-et-les-symptomes
2https://osteoporosecanada.ca/apres-la-fracture/table-des-matieres/fractures-de-la-hanche
3https://osteoporosecanada.ca/sante-des-os
4https://osteoporosecanada.ca/quelques-faits
5https://osteoporosecanada.ca/quelques-faits
6https://osteoporosecanada.ca/quelques-faits
7https://osteoporosecanada.ca/quest-ce-que-losteoporose
8https://osteoporosecanada.ca/les-signes-et-les-symptomes
9https://osteoporosecanada.ca/quelques-faits