June is National Osteoporosis Awareness month. Health Editor Barry Nelson finds out more about the brittle bone disease from one North-East couple who are doing their best to draw attention to the potentially devastating condition.

JOAN Stephinson remembers vividly when it all started. "It was 1992 and we were on our way back from a trip to Australia. I bent over to pick up the suitcase and my back went."

Joan, who was in her mid 50s at the time, was irritated but not unduly worried. "I suffered quite a bit of pain for a couple of days and I found it difficult to move the pedals of the car," she says.

Joan, who lives in Bournmoor near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, with her husband Colin, thought it was best to see her GP.

After listening to her symptoms her doctor referred her to hospital for an x-ray. It was when the results came back that the word 'osteoporosis' was first mentioned.

"I had never even heard the word in 1992. No-one had mentioned osteoporosis as a possible cause of my back pain," says, Joan who was shocked to be told that the x-ray had revealed that her bones were not as dense as they should be in one or two vital areas.

"The bone density was below the normal average, mostly in my hips, but also the spine," she says.

Joan, who has a married son and two grandchildren, was immediately put on medication to stop the condition deteriorating any further and to stop the pain. At that stage little more was said about her condition and Joan, now 68, just accepted that she would have to be on medication for the forseeable future.

"I was just given the medication and that was about it. In those days, before the Internet was so prevalent, I didn' t really have any more information about osteoporosis."

Years passed and Joan concentrated on getting back to normal living, never thinking that she was missing out on vital information about her lifestyle.

It was when her husband Colin, who runs a car showroom in Sunderland, spotted an advert in a magazine about the National Osteoporosis Society and wrote off for an information pack that the scales fell from their eyes.

"When I read up on osteoporosis I was annoyed because I realised I had lost six years of time. From the time I was first diagnosed, I should have switched to a calcium rich diet and increased the amount of weight-bearing exercise I do," says Joan.

The pack from the NOS explained that osteoporosis, which literally means 'porous bones' occurs when the naturally-occurring holes in our honeycomb-like bone become bigger, making it fragile and liable to break more easily. While the condition affects the entire skeleton, it most commonly causes fractures in the hip, spine and wrist.

At any one time an estimated three million people in Britain suffer from this widespread condition and, according to the NOS, one in three women and one in 12 men in the UK will have osteoporosis after they reach the age of 50.

Everybody suffers a certain loss of bone density as they age but the NOS recommends that everyone should follow what it calls a 'bone-friendly' diet to stave off this condition. This involves consuming food that is rich in calcium such as milk and dairy products such as cheese and yogurt. Non-dairy sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, bony fish, dried fruit and even baked beans.

The NOS also advises everyone to take regular, weight-bearing exercise which stimulates the bones. Good bone-building exercises include running, skipping, aerobics, tennis and brisk walking. Ideally you need to exercise three times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes but you should check with your doctor before beginning exercise if you have a health problem.

The NOS also advises people to stop smoking and cut back on drinking, as this can adversely affect bone strength.

Since becoming members of the NOS, the Stephinsons have become increasingly involved in promoting the work of the society and for some years have run the Durham Osteoporosis Support Group, based at the University Hospital of North Durham on the old Dryburn hospital site.

"We try to get speakers along and can provide lots of information, help and support," says Joan, who is secretary of the branch, while her husband, Colin, is chairman.

Consultant rheumatologist Dr Alexis Chuck is ever-present at the monthly meetings, giving patients the opportunity to get first-hand information from an expert in the field.

BUT while Joan is happy to be helping others who already have been diagnosed as having osteoporosis, she is worried that many people who have the condition are blissfully unaware.

"The sooner you are diagnosed, the better, so you have time to switch to a calcium-rich diet and take more exercise. Unfortunately, many people are not diagnosed until late in life when it is more difficult to take remedial action or embark on an exercise programme."

She is also worried that younger people are beginning to be diagnosed with osteoporosis because of an over-reliance on junk food and a tendency to shun exercise.

To try to raise awareness about osteoporosis and the need to lead a 'bone-friendly' lifestyle to ward off future problems, the Stephinsons have organised a special one-off information meeting on Saturday, June 11. The lunchtime meeting, which is due to get underway at 1pm, will be held at County Hall in Durham City.

As well as stalls providing a range of information, there will be a number of expert speakers and well-known TV agony aunt Denise Robertson has agreed to open the event. "Denise has supported us in the past, we are very pleased she has been able to help us again," says Joan.

After the winding down of a number of osteoporosis support groups elsewhere in the region, Joan feels that they have to keep the flag flying.

One continuing local issue is the campaign to increase access to a bone densitometer at Durham hospital. Bought by Durham Soroptomists after a fund raising campaign in the late 1990s, the machine has played a vital role in diagnosing osteoporosis at an early stage.

But Colin Stephinson says he is concerned that patients are still facing long waits to undergo scans.

"We are hoping to improve waiting times and we have been in correspondence with the hospital," he says.

If anyone is interested in more information about osteoporosis prevention and can' t attend the meeting they can contact the Stephinsons on 0191-385 3708.

The national osteoporosis helpline is 0845-450030; website: www.nos.org.uk, or you can contact nurses@nos.org.uk if you have any specific inquiries.