TWU Health Promotion Research Center Aids Women With Osteoporosis

Women have learned preventive care about boosting their calcium levels to prevent bone disease, but what happens to those who already have osteoporosis?

The Texas Woman's University School of Physical Therapy has created a center to educate and care for women suffering from osteoporosis and osteopenia. A collaborative effort between TWU and Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, the TWU Health Promotion and Research Center opened last March and already has served approximately 40 women. The original grant for the center was written with Presbyterian Hospital by Dr. Carolyn Rozier, TWU dean of physical therapy, and Dr. Susan Smith, TWU assistant professor in physical therapy.

"We realized care for these women was a need after talking with gynecologists at Presbyterian, and we had been looking for a community service that our students could perform," says Dr. Rozier.

"We've established a wonderful rapport with Presbyterian and currently are teaching several women how to cope with their osteoporosis or osteopenia," explains Elaine Jackson, a doctoral student in physical therapy at TWU's Presbyterian campus in Dallas. "Programs, which are free of charge, include patient education, falls assessment and prevention, ergonomic evaluation and treatment and postural assessment."

Physicians at Presbyterian refer women with osteoporosis or osteopenia to the TWU center, which is in charge of the testing and treatment. The women are examined by Jackson, university faculty, or masters students in physical therapy that Jackson has personally trained, and the majority of participants complete the full program, a series of four or five sessions.

"Also, we ask the women - if they fit a certain profile - if they would like to volunteer for particular research projects, and several projects have been generated from their data," says Jackson. "With the women's various measurements, we essentially are establishing a database of information, some of which already is being used. Eventually, we will see women who are part of the Pioneer Project (the nation's largest longitudinal study on women and girls), run by the TWU Center for Research on Women's Health."

Jackson is the third recipient of the graduate associateship in physical therapy for women's health, a special associateship established by the School of Physical Therapy to increase awareness of TWU's special emphasis on women's health and to increase TWU's dedication to research related to women.

- Texas Woman's University

---

©2006 Texas Medical Center

---

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/02_15_00/page_15.html