Although osteoporosis is a disease as old as humanity itself, technological advances and scientific progress has identified almost classify it as a disease of recent times. Is a reduction in bone mass: the loss of bone structure, which determines that it becomes more and more fragile, facilitating the occurrence of fractures resulting from falls, bumps or even spontaneously. It affects both sexes, although it may describe today as a field almost exclusively of women, since the risk of getting it is up to seven times higher than in men.
BY IKE UCHECHUKWU (CALABAR)
Cross River residents including drivers and market women have been advised to desist from patronising quack bone setters whenever they were in need of proper bone treatment to avoid unreparable damage to their wellbeing.
Prof. Ngim Ngim, Head of Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, University of Calabar, said this on Tuesday in Calabar during a public enlightenment campaign at Watt market on the need to care for the human bones.
Ngim said that visiting quacks for bone problems had created severe damages to many individuals.
According to him, the road walk was to sensitise the people as part of the activities lined up to celebrate the Calabar Orthopaedic Week 2018 on August 8.
He explained that the purpose of the Calabar Orthopedic Week 2018 was aimed at discouraging people from doing harm to their bones by patronising quack health practices.
His words : “The essence of this road work is to sensitize the public and invite them to the main event which holds on Wednesday at the Unical International Conference Centre.
“The programme is also to serve as an enlightenment forum to reachout to our people on issues relating to orthopaedic problems.
“Our aim is to discourage people from doing harm to themselves by patronizing quack health practices particularly in this era.
“We want to achieve a degree of awareness that will let people to come to the University of Calabar Teaching hospital and see specialist whenever they have their problems.
“Most of them usually end up in the wrong place before they come to us. And before they come to us, many things would have gone wrong.
“By that time even when we have done the right thing, the whole thing may still not be too good due to the damages they have done to themselves at first by visiting quack healthcare practitioners”, he said.
He called on all Nigerians to always visit the Orthopaedic Department at the Teaching Hospital for their bone problems, adding that some people travel abroad for cases that can be handled locally.
Also speaking, Prof. Tony Udosen, the Chairman Local Organising Committee of the week,hinted that the aim of the programme was to sensitize the public on the importance of taking care of their bones and visiting the right hospital for treatment.
“It is purely a public enlightment to create awareness on issues relating to bone diseases; ranging from injuries from accident, congenital problems that people are born with, ageing problems, and many others”, he said.
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