Director, Choreographer & Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood Dances to Fight Osteoporosis

Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood has revealed to Dr Foster Health in an exclusive interview his involvement in the national campaign – Boogie for Your Bones – designed to raise awareness of the brittle bone disease Osteoporosis.

To access the interview, visit Dr Foster Health's home page and click on Craig's picture.

The National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) has joined forces with Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood to improve the bone health of the British public. The aim of the campaign is to inspire as many people as possible join in and boogie for their bones.

Osteoporosis is a medical condition that causes the bones to become brittle and break easily and costs the NHS £2.3bn a year to treat (1).

The facts are worrying – one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 in the UK will break a bone mainly because of poor bone health (2).

Craig says to attack these figures it is crucial to build bone strength from birth to age 25, so the Boogie for Your Bones campaign aims to get people dancing as young as possible and to make exercise fun!

Dance is invigorating, engaging and a great weight-bearing exercise, which has been proven in scientific studies to strengthen bones in childhood and prevent osteoporosis in later life (3).

Find out more about the Boogie for Your Bones campaign on the National Osteoporosis Society's website.

You can find out more about Osteoporosis with Dr Foster Health by clicking on the Medical Dictionary link on the homepage and selecting Conditions. Scroll down to the Osteoporosis link and click to discover how the condition is diagnosed and treated, what increases your risk of developing the disease and important questions and answers about Osteoporosis.

About Osteoporosis
Bones contain collagen (protein), calcium salts and other minerals. Each bone is made up of a thick outer shell known as cortical bone and a strong inner mesh of trabecular bone, which looks like a honeycomb.

Osteoporosis occurs when the struts that make up this structure become thin causing bones to become fragile and break easily.

The condition is commonly linked to post menopausal women. However, men, younger women, children and pregnant women can also be affected.

Osteoporosis has been termed the "silent epidemic" since there are no associated symptoms or warning signs prior to fracture.

References:
1) Figures in Torgerson, Iglesias & Reid
The economics of fracture prevention from The Effective Management of Osteoporosis (2001)
Edited by Barlow, Francis & Miles
pp 111-121' updated using mid-2007 population data from UK National Statistics and the Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) pay and price inflation 06-07
2) van Staa, Dennison & Leufkens et al
Epidemiology of fractures in England and Wales
Bone 29: pp 517-522 (2001)
3) Hui, Slemenda & Johnston
The contribution of bone loss to postmenopausal osteoporosis
Osteoporosis International (1990) Issue 1: pp 30-34

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