Clinical management of the symptomatic osteoporotic patient.

The acute skeletal disability arising in most osteoporoses of nonmalignant origin forms a self-limiting phenomenon characterized by intermittency, typically over a four-year period or less. Symptomatically, the acute disabilities that these patients suffer respond to relatively simple nonpharmacologic measures. Once one understands both the self-limiting course of the disability and the simple means of dealing with its symptoms while they last, managing these patients becomes fairly straightforward. We can summarize these means in the following four words: analgesics, rest, support, and time.