dowager hump

dow·a·ger hump

postmenopausal thoracic kyphosis of older women due to osteoporosis and compression fractures of vertebra.

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

dow·a·ger hump

(dow'ă-jĕr hŭmp)

Postmenopausal cervical kyphosis of older women due to osteoporosis and compression fractures of vertebra.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Occasionally a person with osteoporosis will develop a dowager hump or kyphosis at the top of their spine due to collapse of the vertebrae, and notices they have lost height.

Hidden disease affects millions; About three million peo ople in the UK have osteoporosis and every y year more than 230,000 fractures occur becaus se of it. LINDSAY BLAIR spoke to one woman living wi th the condition and reports on the importance of lo ooking after your bones

Jenny describes decaying bodies in rich detail: "Slack bosoms and dowager humps," a pantsuit "slung on her wasted body as if on a wire hanger," drooping heads, bent backs, "a lot of rolling flesh exposed." While Jenny is honest about the shrunken condition of her sisters, the people around them and the old she sees in public places, her repeated comments on their ugliness seem to objectify them.