Top 3 exercises to do if you're concerned about Osteoporosis
Looking after your bones is something that we've all heard before, but maybe always assumed it was for the people in their 80s,90s,100s perhaps? So would it surprise you if 1 in 5 women and 1 in 20 men over the age of 50 have been diagnosed with osteoporosis?
Research has been underway and has found that by improving your balance, improving your muscle strength and impact resilience, and working on your postural muscles, this can improve your osteoporosis risk.
I remember a time I was seeing a 64 year old client years ago for a sports massage, and during the session she mentioned that she was concerned about osteoporosis as it ran in the family. She had been to her GP, had a DEXA scan and recently been diagnosed with Osteopenia. She was very nervous of doing any impact activity or anything that increased her risk of falls, so would do activity like swimming and yoga. We had a good chat about it and we put in place a 1:1 session to build her confidence up with weight lifting. She became to absolutely love it! When she went for her review with the doctor, they were really pleased with her progress, and she had considerably improved her bone denisty level that she was now just borderline osteopenic!
Contents
What is Osteoporosis?
How does Osteoporosis occur?
Our bones go through a cycle: Bone growth, Bone reabsportion. Bone growth is controlled by Osteoblasts. Bone reabsorption is controlled by Osteoclasts. When there are more osteoblasts than osteoclasts we increase our bone size - such as when we are children. When we have more osteoclasts than osteoblasts, we have more bone reabsorption - resulting in osteoporosis.
There are many things that cause this change in balance. One of these things is hormones. Oestrogen supresses osteoclasts, so when our oestrogen starts to drop, more and more osteoclasts will emerge. Secondly its our diet and lifestyle. If we have insufficient thyroid function, vitamin D levels or calcium in our diet, the body will release calcium from our bones. This process can start from as early as 35 years old!
Whats the problem with having Osteoporosis
OK - this next bit is a bit sad and scary. So prepare yourself. When our bone absorbers are working harder than our bone formers, it is going to make our bones more brittle. Which means we are at a higher risk of a fracture. I've seen people knock their arm when walking on their sideboard and develop a fracture. People who sit for too long in a slumped position gain a vertebral fracture etc. It doesn't take much to cause a fracture depending on how severe your osteoporosis is. According to the NICE guidelines which is the national guidelines used throughout the NHS.
10% of all adults who have a hip fracture will die within 30 days
A third of all adults who have a hip fracture will die within the first 12 months
If the fracture is not surgically repaired - this rises to 70% mortality rate in the first year.
These statistics are terrifying! And if we wait until we have a fracture to do anything about our osteoporosis - well its almost too late!We have to invest in our bones as early as we can!
What are the risk factors to developing Osteoporosis?
Women are more prone than men
The older we are, the more prevalent it is
Race: White and asian ethnic groups have a higher prevalence
Lower BMI
Family history of Osteoporosis
Diet - lifelong lack of calcium, vitamin D and protein
Smoking
Lack of weight bearing or resistance exercise/activities.
Top 3 exercise tips
Balance work
Improving your balance has 2 main benefits: 1. Reducing your risk of falls, 2. Improving your proprioception (the conversation your brain has with your body to find out what it's doing). The better your proprioception the more stability your joints have long term. Its important you complete your balance work with something to hold on to if you need. Then you're always safe if you lose your balance.
Can you work through this balance challenge?
Level 1: Try doing a tandem stand (one foot directly in front of the other) for up to 20 seconds
Level 2: Try doing a single leg stand for up to 20 seconds
Level 3: Try doing a single leg stand whilst doing something else (looking up/down, throwing a ball up and down etc)
Weight lifting
Weight lifting is a huge part of your fight against osteoporosis! It is one of the most successful ways to add more bone density. Exactly like when we build muscle, the bones are the same. When we load the bones, it triggers a response from the body to increase its bone density. If you are on the journey to reduce your risk of osteoporosis then seeing a PT to teach you how to lift weights safely and effectively would be really beneficial. If you have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia, then see your local physiotherapist to help with putting a programme together.
Postural strength
We've moved away from the idea of 'a perfect posture'. We all look different on the outside - so why should our bodies we all identical on the inside? However when it comes to osteoporosis, spending periods of time slumped, especially with load can increase the likelihood of a spinal fracture. So working on strengthening the muscles around the body to allow us to be in optimal positions will help long term to look after the spine.
Conclusion
Osteoporosis is a real problem and something that a lot of us forget about until it happens to us later in life. I'm hoping this article shows how there is a lot we can do to help reduce our risk of developing it and educate on the importance of adding prevention into our weekly exercise programmes.