Height loss

Most people lose a little height with age, usually around a centimetre or so per decade from mid-life, as the soft discs between the vertebrae gradually lose water and flatten and posture changes. This gentle, gradual loss is normal. What matters more is a marked loss of height — several centimetres — or one that happens relatively quickly, because the leading serious cause is compression fractures in the spine. When the vertebrae are weakened by osteoporosis (thinning, fragile bone), they can crack and collapse under the body's own weight, sometimes without any obvious injury or dramatic pain. Each collapsed vertebra makes a person shorter and can bend the upper back forward, producing a stooped posture (kyphosis). So progressive height loss, particularly with a rounding of the upper back, new or ongoing back pain, or a fracture from minor force, is an important clue to underlying osteoporosis — which is common, silent until a fracture, and treatable. Less commonly, height loss reflects other spinal changes such as severe disc disease or curvature. Because osteoporosis often gives no warning until a bone breaks, noticing height loss is one of the few visible signs, and worth acting on.

• Normal ageing — discs between the vertebrae flatten; a small, gradual loss.
• Osteoporosis with spinal compression fractures — the key serious cause; vertebrae weakened by thin bone collapse, sometimes silently.
• Osteopenia progressing to osteoporosis.
• Vitamin D deficiency / osteomalacia — soft bones prone to deformity.
• Degenerative disc disease or spinal curvature (scoliosis, kyphosis).
• Poor posture and loss of muscle bulk with age.

Height loss is assessed clinically and, when significant, with imaging of the spine (X-ray) to look for compression fractures, plus a bone-density (DXA) scan to assess for osteoporosis. Blood tests support this by checking bone and mineral health and looking for treatable or secondary causes: calcium, vitamin D, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid and thyroid function, and, if myeloma or another cause is suspected, protein tests. Mediora.AI can surface a vitamin D, calcium or bone-marker pattern that points to poor bone health from your results; confirming spinal fractures or osteoporosis needs imaging and a density scan arranged by your doctor.