OSTEOPOROSIS CAN SILENTLY STRIKE AT ANY AGE.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: ROSANNE HOWARD Knight-Ridder

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Until last summer Mary Lu Norris assumed osteoporosis was an affliction of elderly women.

Then the 46-year-old Murrells Inlet resident tripped over a bicycle in her garage, breaking her breastbone and separating four ribs in the fall.

The physician who read Norris' X-rays observed her bones looked dry and porous.

But Norris did nothing about it until her 76-year-old mother was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis a few months later. When Norris reported this to Dr. Cynthia Bindner, her gynecologist, Bindner suggested Norris have a bone-density scan.

The results confirmed the …