Derek L. Hill, D.O.

Fellowship-Trained Orthopedic Surgeon and Specialist

The Best Exercises for Osteoporosis

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Senior couple having fun in parkExercise has always been the key to maintaining a healthy weight and healthy bones. Regular exercise as a child or young adult may have helped maximize your bone production, most of which occurs by age 35. The more you continue to exercise in middle and old age, the more you reduce the risk of developing the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.

Types of Exercise

People with osteoporosis think that exercise will cause bone breakage, however an exercise regimen created by a professional trainer could possibly help you prevent falls, and fall-related fractures. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends a weight-bearing exercise like walking, which forces the body to work against gravity while staying upright. Weight lifting, a muscle-strengthening exercise, is another great exercise for osteoporosis. Whether standing, sitting or in the prone position, it makes the body work against gravity. Weight-bearing and strength training exercise are known to build and maintain bone density, and they’re safe and effective.

Exercise Regimen

Before you begin an exercise regimen be sure to discuss it with your doctor. You may be required to undergo a thorough physical to help determine which exercises are safe for you. There’s not one exercise regimen that will work best for everyone with osteoporosis. Each person’s regimen should be specifically tailored based on results from a medical evaluation including: fracture risk, muscle strength, range of motion, fitness, gait, balance and level of physical activity. If a medical evaluation shows that high impact weight-bearing exercises are not for you, he or she may recommend low-impact weight-bearing exercises instead. They include elliptical machines, low-impact aerobics, stair-step machines and walking (outside or on a treadmill), and are less likely to cause fractures, while building bone density. If you have never exercised then you want to gradually increase your exercise level to 30 minutes per day, 3-5 days a week.

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Maintain Healthy Bones With Exercise

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Pixmac000002036696Exercise is one of the best ways to increase your bone mass and maintain healthy bones. We want to be sure when starting an exercise program that we are doing so safely. If you have or are at risk of developing osteoporosis, learn what risks are involved and how to take preventative measures when beginning your exercise routine. Take care of your bones by using the following tips from our expert, Dr. Scott Weiss:

Osteoporosis is more common than it should be. Although we don’t know how to completely stop bone loss, we can take steps to prevent many of the fractures. Prevention starts in childhood, with good nutrition and exercise. Fall prevention is especially important in elderly persons. Sometimes doctors and their patients just want to take a medication for osteoporosis, without paying attention to these basic building blocks of bone health. The medications will not be as effective if there is inadequate calcium and vitamin D in the body. The other building blocks are proper exercise, weight gain and proper over all nutrition, caffeine reduction, smoking cessation and fall prevention in elderly.

Follow some of these general principals to ensure a safe & productive exercise program:

  1. Exercises that you can perform that are weight bearing in nature are the best (walking, dancing, hiking, stair-climbing). Stressing the bones through its long axis is optimal.
  2. Do not perform large impact activities that cause undue jarring to the spine.
  3. Resistance exercise can generate tension in the bones thus stimulating the bones to grow. This refers to training with either light weights or elastic bands.
  4. Bone density increases the most with higher weights and fewer repetitions.
  5. Increase your weight slowly and progress accordingly. Listen to your body.
  6. Postural exercises that help you become more upright can reduce stress on specific areas of the body.
  7. Balance exercises help maintain equilibrium and reduce the risk of falling. (Explore Tai-chi)
  8. Avoid movements to the end of your range (twisting, forward or backward bending).
  9. Most studies show that an exercise program of nine months in duration will produce the desired increase in bone mineral density.
  10. The frequency of exercise recommended is 3-5 days/week.
  11. Always warm-up and cool-down.
  12. During activities of daily living, become conscious of your positioning. Bend from the hips to bend down, don’t slouch when you sit and stabilize the lower back with your hand when sneezing or coughing.
  13. Remember: Small 10 minute bouts of activity have shown to be just as beneficial as one long bout of exercise.

Dr. Scott Weiss, Owner and Clinical Director, Bodhizone