Women Suffering Grisly Fractures Due to Doctors Dismissing Osteoporosis as a "Young Person's" Disease in Malaysia

In November 2018, when Michelle Clark stumbled over a concrete stair, she attributed it to her own awkwardness. However, just a few hours later, the mother of two found herself experiencing intense agony and could barely move at all.

Hospital scans revealed Michelle, then 56, had fractured her right kneecap. Doctors applied a cast and told her to rest, expecting it to heal after eight weeks.

It wasn't until almost a year later, however, when she broke her right hand while out walking her dog, that the true cause of her repeated injuries came to light.

She was found to have osteoporosis, the condition that leads to weak bones affecting about 3.5 million people in Britain and making bones prone to fractures – this ailment impacts women far more frequently than men.

Nevertheless, the diagnosis did not originate from the healthcare providers who attended to her hand.

Rather, it was Michelle's kids who encouraged her to undergo a DEXA scan—a specialized bone-density test used to diagnose osteoporosis—after noticing how swiftly she had experienced a second break.

If not for their help, Michelle, residing in Warwickshire with her spouse Jim, 68, a retired entrepreneur, feels she might have remained undiscovered for many more years – or at least until her subsequent, possibly fatal, episode.

At 62 years old, she admits that she remains puzzled why no medical professional identified her condition earlier – despite one physician playfully mentioning that she had succeeded in fracturing a ‘bone particularly hard to break’.

Michelle is one of tens of thousands of women in mid-life – and younger – who have endured broken bones, and years of pain and frustration, before receiving a diagnosis and treatment.

The NHS advises that all adults aged 50 and above who experience a 'fragility' fracture—a break resulting from a fall from standing height or lower—should undergo an assessment for osteoporosis. However, this often fails to occur.

According to a 2021 report from the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), numerous women in their 50s and early 60s are being overlooked or incorrectly diagnosed. Additionally, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Osteoporosis and Bone Health stated in 2023 that thousands of women are not receiving prompt diagnoses and treatments they require.

A significant factor highlighted was age discrimination. Healthcare providers frequently disregard osteoporosis in younger, postmenopausal women even though it is the primary reason behind fragile bone injuries.

Michelle is speaking up as part of The Mail on Sunday's War On Osteoporosis initiative.

We urge the government to guarantee that each region of the UK has access to a specialized clinic called a fracture liaison service (FLS) to screen patients for the condition following a bone break.

Although FLS units are present in all hospitals throughout Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, roughly half of the hospitals in England provide this essential service.

The previous year, Health Secretary Wes Streeting promised that one of his initial actions upon entering government would be to instruct the NHS to develop a ' rollout plan' for universal access to FLS units across the country. It was only in February when he stated that this implementation would occur by 2030.

Specialists caution each month about the lack of progress towards equitable access to an FLS, resulting in additional unnecessary risks to people’s lives.

Fractured bones rank as the fourth major contributor to disabilities and early mortality in the UK, as well as being the second most common reason for adults needing admission to hospitals. Many hip fractures, frequently resulting from unaddressed osteoporosis, lead to approximately 2,500 fatalities among British citizens annually—deaths that advocates argue could be mostly avoided with proper prevention measures.

This condition also impacts men, yet eight out of every ten sufferers are females due to the hormonal shifts occurring during menopause that modify bone density.

'My diagnosis was a blur,' recalls Michelle. 'I knew absolutely nothing about osteoporosis and I was absolutely gobsmacked. I'm a keen walker and gym goer – suddenly I felt vulnerable and old.

However, what surprised me even more was that my DEXA scan revealed an unnoticed fracture in my spine.

At age 54, two years prior to her knee cap injury, Michelle had an accident where she fell on her staircase and landed on her back.

'The fall likely caused the spinal fractures,' she states. 'Although I was in severe pain, after a couple of days, I continued my usual routine, relied on pain medication, and adapted to the situation.'

'I repeatedly failed to get my osteoporosis diagnosed. If there were a local FLS, perhaps they might have caught it before I fractured another bone.'

Once symptoms of the condition appear in FLS, patients receive bone-strengthening medications that reduce the fracture risk by over half.

Specialists claim the FLS ' postcode lottery' is endangering individuals.

In March, an analysis conducted by this newspaper revealed that nine out of the ten regions recording the highest incidence of hip fractures among individuals aged 65 and older lack a Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) in their hospital facilities.

'Patients are being let down, it's completely unfair,' says Emma Clark, a professor of clinical musculoskeletal epidemiology at the University of Bristol.

'They deserve consistency – their postcode shouldn't determine the treatment they get. Patients will slip through the cracks.

'The clinics are not just about ensuring they get bone-strengthening medicines. They also give tailored diet and lifestyle support.'

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