When his four-year-old son asked his daddy how tall he was, former police officer James Simon* pulled out a tape measure, despite knowing full well he was 5ft 9in.
“I remember looking at the reading in disbelief,” he recalls. “It said I was 5ft 6in.”
That was 2007, and the then-31 year old from Staffordshire had recently hurt his back jumping into the sea on a stag do.
“I knew at the time I’d done something, but I never imagined that just the pressure of the water could crush three of my vertebrae and make me lose inches. I’d felt the pain on impact, but just carried on with the day.”
James, now 45, was well used to feeling discomfort by this point, having spent years being bounced from one consultant to another as medics failed to diagnose the reason for his ongoing pain.
“I was in my late twenties when I first started having problems in my feet and ankles,” he says.
“To begin with I thought I’d tweaked a muscle, but after a few months I went to my GP about it. I was referred to a consultant who said they couldn’t find anything and referred me on to someone else who basically told me ‘it’s psychological, there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re making it up’.
“That made me so angry. I wasn’t making it up – my feet really hurt.”
Not long after the stag do incident, James was doing DIY at home when he felt something snap in his foot as he stood up.
“I went to my local minor injuries unit, where a nurse agreed to take an X-ray, even though she shouldn’t because there had been no ‘trauma’, or accident.
“When she came back half an hour later she confirmed I’d broken a bone and asked, ‘are you aware you have five old breaks in your foot?’
“She told me I’d broken it numerous times and that she thought I might have osteoporosis. So I returned to my consultant, told him what had been said and was diagnosed. It was such a relief to finally be believed.”
In April, a study in the journal Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology reported that osteoporosis in men is often overlooked by health care professionals, with men generally diagnosed later, complying with treatment less and experiencing higher fatality rates from being in hospital with fragility fractures than women.
Dr Tatiane Vilaca from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Oncology and Metabolism and author of the review says: “Despite the current gap in knowledge, men can still easily be screened for osteoporosis at their GP surgery.
Anyone with a family history of osteoporosis, broken bones, or fractures, those with acute back pain or a loss of height should be encouraged to have a check-up.
Early preventative treatment remains the best way to ensure a slower disease progression and longer, healthier life without a fracture.”
It has been a long road for James. “When I was first diagnosed, I did feel there was a lack of awareness and understanding about osteoporosis as a condition,” he says.
“I thought that it only impacted elderly, post-menopausal women – and that was generally the only representation I could find when searching on the internet. I was completely unaware that I could be at risk.”
“I have had countless operations, I need a walking stick and I can’t do activities like playing football with my sons.”
Sarah Leyland, clinical adviser at the Royal Osteoporosis Society, says: “Although osteoporosis tends to be more common in women, one in five men over the age of 50 will break a bone because of it.
“We need to break the harmful stereotype that the condition only affects women. By encouraging everyone to consider their bone health, we can work towards everyone living well with osteoporosis.”
James adds: “Discovering that the condition impacts so many men makes me feel less alone. We need greater awareness so men can look after their bone health.”
- See theros.org.uk. For tailored information from a specialist, call the ROS Helpline on 0808 800 0035.
*As a former police officer, James’s surname has been changed at his request
