How Exercise Can Help You Fight Osteoporosis
May is National Osteoporosis Awareness Month. Osteoporosis is a bone condition that causes thin, fragile bones, leading to an increased risk of bone fractures. Osteoporosis is a preventable disease that largely impacts women, who account for 80% of individuals with the condition. Exercise plays a critical role in preventing and managing osteoporosis. Exercise improves bone density, building stronger bones, helping maintain bone health, and slowing and preventing bone loss. If diagnosed with osteoporosis, it is crucial to safely engage in targeted exercise with your physical therapist, including balance training, weight-bearing aerobics, and strength training.
The FAQ on Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a bone condition characterized by porous bone, which means that the body is not able to replace bone tissue at a rate that keeps pace with bone tissue that is broken down. Your bones are dynamic living tissues that are constantly rebuilding and breaking down, known as bone remodeling. Bone remodeling occurs throughout your life; however, up until age 30, you make more bone than you break down, reaching peak bone mass at age 30. After age 30, the rate of bone formation begins to slow down.
Osteoporosis causes you to have thin, brittle, and fragile bones that are susceptible to being broken with little to no trauma. If osteoporosis occurs in the spine, it can lead to stooped posture, chronic back pain, or loss of height. Women are affected by osteoporosis at a higher rate than men with 1 in 3 women over 50 experiencing an osteoporosis-related fracture versus 1 in 5 men over 50. Menopause has a significant impact on women’s bone health and can contribute to the development of osteoporosis due to the decrease in estrogen levels, which causes women to lose bone density faster than they did before.
Other risk factors for osteoporosis include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, low calcium or vitamin D intake, sedentary lifestyle, being over the age of 65, low body weight, family history of osteoporosis, early menopause before age 45, certain medications like oral steroids, chronic health conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, or thyroid issues, and going one year without a period in pre-menopausal years.
How Exercise Can Prevent & Fight Osteoporosis
Exercise plays a critical role in preventing and managing osteoporosis. By staying physically active from childhood through young adulthood to your adult years, you build strong bones, reach peak bone mineral density, maintain bone health, and slow and prevent bone loss. Exercise helps to improve bone density by directly loading the bone and increasing muscle mass, which places mechanical stress on the skeleton.
If you are diagnosed with osteoporosis, it is essential to engage in targeted exercise training to build muscle strength, prevent further bone loss, and improve your overall bone health. It is important to engage in weight-bearing and strength-training exercises as well as balance training.
Targeted exercise training to prevent and fight osteoporosis includes:
Balance Training: Balance training exercises help to improve coordination and reaction time, reducing the risk of falling by enhancing the ability to respond and adjust to changing surfaces and dynamic movement to maintain your balance.
Weight-Bearing Aerobic Exercises: These exercises cause bone loading through the whole length of the bone which strengthens and builds up bone density. Weight-bearing exercises include walking, jogging, stair climbing, dancing, and jumping rope.
Strength Training Exercises: These exercises stimulate bone-building by tension placed on the ends of the bone, shortening the muscle, and pulling on the attachment between muscle and bone. Strength training involves lifting free weights, using weight machines, or using resistance bands and should be done at least twice a week.
Regular exercise is essential through childhood and young adulthood to enhance your bone health and bone mineral density. Exercise is equally as important as an adult and while aging to maintain good bone health and manage osteoporosis should it develop. A 2014 study in Osteoporosis International showed that women who regularly walked or were physically active had a higher bone density in their hip bone compared to those who were not active. Those women who regularly exercised were therefore at a lower risk of hip bone fracture related to osteoporosis. An analysis revealed that a program focusing on balance, strength, and resistance training reduced the odds of falls that result in fractures by more than 60%. Studies have also shown that aerobic exercise improves the density of the spine, preventing spinal fractures and progression of a forward spinal curve. This is critical as osteoporosis often initially affects the spine.
A physical therapist can help you safely and effectively engage in exercise training to manage your osteoporosis, maximize bone and spine health, and minimize your risk of injury. Physical therapy treatment for osteoporosis includes a comprehensive exercise program involving strength-training, weight-bearing aerobics, and flexibility and stretching exercises; proper body mechanic instruction; balance training; and posture education.
