Osteoporosis is a disease that results from low bone mass and loss of the normal bone tissue which lead to weak and fragile bones. Further, this condition can lea to porous bone that is as compressible like a sponge. If a patient has osteoporosis, he or she has an higher risk for fractured bones in certain areas of the body, such as the hip, spine, and wrist. But it is not necessary that the effect will come on these places only, as osteoporosis-related fractures can also occur in almost any skeletal bone.
A normal healthy bone is always equipped with protein, collagen and calcium. All these elements are responsible for providing strength to the structure of the bone. When a person suffers from Osteoporosis, the bones can easily break even with minor injury that normally would not cause a bone fracture. It can prove to be a severe case in a  majority of cases.
The fracture can be occurred in the  form of cracking, or can even result in collapsing ( if the patient has compression fracture of the vertebrae of the spine). It is believed that osteoporosis is a common disease in elderly women only, however, the damage from osteoporosis begins much earlier in life. As peak bone density is reached at approximately age 25 years, thus it is important for everyone to build strong bones by that age, so that the bones will remain strong later in life. Adequate calcium intake is an essential part of building strong bones.

Here a few initial symptoms of Osteoporosis:

1. 1.Dowager's hump or a "hump back" (forward bending in the spine)
2. 2.Loss of height
3. 3.Chronic low back pain or neck pain

Patients initially are not aware of this disease. In fact, most of them do not even realize it for years. Thus, osteoporosis is often described as a silent disease. Therefore, it is hard to detect the initial symptoms of this disease. There are a number of tests that are conducted in order to detect the condition. These bone density tests can :

1. 1.Detect low bone density before the occurrence of a fracture.
2. 2.Confirm a diagnosis of osteoporosis if the patient has gone through fractures in the past.
3. 3.Predict chances of fracturing in the future.
4. 4.Determine the rate of bone loss and/or calculate the effects of treatment in accordance to that, if the test is conducted at intervals of a short duration of time, like an year or so.