Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones that means “porous bone.” If you look at healthy bone under a microscope, you will see that parts of it look like honeycomb. If you have osteoporosis, the holes and spaces in the honeycomb are much bigger than they are in healthy bone. This means your bones have lost density or mass and that the structure of your bone tissue has become abnormal. As your bones become less dense, they also become weaker and more likely to break.

Osteoperosis happens when you lose too much bone, make too little bone, or both. As a result, your bones become weak and may break from a minor fall or, in serious cases, even from simple actions, like bumping into furniture.