See, when you've osteoporosis, exercise is invariably brought in since exercise improves your bone health, increases your bone mass and helps prevent or reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Exercise Program for Osteoporosis - What is Osteoporosis?
It's a disease of progressive bone loss associated with an increased risk of bone fractures.
It literally means "porous bone".
Osteoporosis often develops unnoticed over many years, with no symptoms or discomfort. It can result in fractures, most often of the spine, hip or wrist.
Imagine -
Wouldn't it be chaotic if unknowingly you were to keep a thief in your home?
Having osteoporosis is just like having a thief in your own body, stealing your precious bone calcium daily.
The progressive weakening of your bones is so insidious that no warning signs are given until a fracture happens!
Exercise Program for Osteoporosis - Why Exercise?
Like muscles, your bone (and mine too) is the living tissue that responds to exercise by becoming stronger.
If you exercise regularly since young, you generally produce more new bone tissues than loose them, therefore your bone density increases.
Generally you (and I) achieve maximum bone density & strength (peak bone mass) around the age of 30.
Bone density gradually begins to decline as we age and become less active. For us ladies, bone loss is usually most rapid during the first few years after menopause.
If you're older than 30, don't panic - regular exercise can help prevent your bone loss!
The Basic Exercise Program for Osteoporosis is one Based on Weight-Bearing Exercise
The best bone building exercise for your bones is the weight-bearing exercise. This type of exercise forces you to work against gravity.
It involves movement usually performed in a standing or upright position where gravity is having an effect.
This means your bones are being loaded as you move.
Skipping, jumping, walking, jogging, running and stair climbing are good examples of weight-bearing exercises.
The result of weight-bearing exercise is that you've improved fitness, balance, coordination and agility that can help prevent falls and therefore reduce the risk of fractures.
If you exercise early in childhood, it'll increase your peak bone mass that develops in late childhood or your early adult years.
Continue on to practice weight-bearing exercise through your adulthood and into your senior years will help increase or maintain your bone mass.
Before beginning a weight-bearing exercise program, have a chat with Chad , who's a qualified and dedicated trainer - he can design and customize a suitable program for you.
Besides weight-bearing exercises, water exercise is really good for building up and maintaining your bone mass plus water provides resistance in all directions to allow you enjoying a balanced workout, and helps to lower risk of injuries, which is important to you because you can't afford to fracture your bones if you've osteoporosis!
So, want to be a little different from the norm? These cool water exercises will make you feel alive all over!
One Excellent Exercise Program for Osteoporosis is Strength Training
Strength training strengthens bones all over your body, especially if you exercise all the major muscle groups in your arms, legs, thighs, stomach, hips, back, shoulders, chest and butts.
In strength training, the force your muscles exert on your bones helps to strengthen them. The stronger your muscle is, the more force it exerts upon your bone. Therefore, by strengthening your muscles you also strengthen your bones.
If you just lift a small amount of weight on a regular basis, it can benefit you a lot.
For lifting weights, use small dumbbells or hand weights and resistance bands which are good, inexpensive strength training equipment.
The Most Beneficial Exercise Program for Osteoporosis is Stretching
Stretching really improves my flexibility.
It makes me easier to move and lowers my risk of falling and injury.
And I know I'm investing good in my bones.
You should too.
Exercise Program for Osteoporosis - What other Measures?
Besides exercise which is considered a good solution to osteoporosis, what other things you can do to prevent or lower the risk of osteoporosis?
Medical experts suggest these 2 things:
Bone up on your calcium intake
Your body can best handle about 500 mg of calcium at one time, whether from food or supplements.
Consume your calcium food and calcium supplement throughout the day rather than all at one time.
National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends you increase the amount of calcium supplements slowly, starting with 500 mg a day for a week and then gradually adding more.
However, don't exceed more than 2000 - 2500 mg of calcium a day.
Exceeding the upper limit of 2000 - 2500 mg calcium could lead you to medical problem like milk alkali syndrome (i.e. a high level of calcium in your blood) and may interfere with the absorption of other minerals such as iron.
Also bone up on your intake of magnesium supplement as it's found to be beneficial to your bones since it suppresses bone turnover and helps to prevent age-related osteoporosis.
The suggested ratio of calcium to magnesium is 2:1 for optimum absorption.
Daily, I take 2 tablets of calcium and magnesium supplement for my bones plus eating dark leafy greens, beans and figs that's rich in calcium.
Exercise is still Considered the "Savior" Program for Osteoporosis
It's crucial you and I know which is an effective exercise program for osteoporosis, to help us build bone mass to prevent or reduce the occurrence of osteoporosis.
The way I see it, exercise still reigns supreme in the battle against osteoporosis as it's effective in both prevention and treatment of the disease.
So make exercise a part of your lifestyle, huh?
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