A simple exercise to prevent osteoporosis

Today we'd like to share a video uploaded by DrGeorgeBest in his youtube's channel.

As he explains in the video, we advance you that the exercise he proposes it is an exercise based on a scientific investigation made in 1998 for the Journal of bone and mineral research. It is based on the fact that the mineral density grows up or at least decreases slowlier (depending on the age) with exercises that provokes some impact on our bones.

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for following.

Osteoporosis: diagnosis and prevention

Today we leave an interesting video about the osteoporosis that instituto Taladriz wants to share with us at its channel in youtube. You want to know a little bit more? Just have a sit and watch this video:

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for following.

Key exercises to fight osteoporosis

After several posts about osteoporosis, as we already know, it strikes both sexes, but it is more common in women. However, exercise is a key step in preventing osteoporosis. 

So, today we leave you a video that WTNH News8, an english TV channel, shares in its youtube channel:

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for reading.

Exercise for Strong Bones (IV)

In the 3 previous posts about "Exercise for strong bones", we've seen some type of exercises to strong bones, improve balance, improve posture, see how well we move in everyday activities, improve muscle strength and also decrease the risk of falls and broken bones.

Now, we'd like to present a table in which we recommend you how much exercise you need to do of each type:

Table composed from the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

To increase your knowledge about this topic, consult the official web page of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Thanks for reading.

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. Osteoporosis is preventable. Recovered on 5th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

Exercise for strong bones (III)

This third type, is not a proper group of exercises to strong bones.

Non-impact exercises can help you to improve:

• Balance
• Posture
• How well you move in everyday activities
• Muscle strength
• Decrease the risk of falls and broken bones

Here below some of these exercises:

• Balance exercises that strengthen your legs and test your balance, such as Tai Chi, can decrease your risk of falls.
• Posture exercises that improve your posture and reduce rounded or “sloping” shoulders can help you decrease the chance of breaking a bone, especially in the spine.
• Functional exercises that improve how well you move can help you with everyday activities and decrease your chance of falling and breaking a bone. For example, if you have trouble getting up from a chair or climbing stairs, you should do these activities as exercises.

We recommend that you work with a specialist who can teach you balance, posture and functional exercises.

To increase your knowledge about this topic, consult the official web page of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Thanks for reading.

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. Osteoporosis is preventable. Recovered on 5th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

Exercise for Strong Bones (II)

In order to build and maintain bone density, there are 2 types of exercises:

• Weight-bearing.
• Muscle-strengthening.

Let's start now with muscle-strengthening exercises:

These are the type of exercises that include activities where you move your body, a weight or some other resistance against gravity.
Here below some examples of muscle-strengthening exercises:

• Lifting weights
• Using elastic exercise bands
• Using weight machines
• Lifting your own body weight
• Functional movements, such as standing and rising up on your toes

There are many other type of exercises which could be added to this group such as Yoga, Pilates, etc. but be careful some exercises depending on the position of the body may cause risk of broken bones for people with osteoporosis.

To increase your knowledge about this topic, consult the official web page of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Thanks for reading.

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. Osteoporosis is preventable. Recovered on 5th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

Exercise for Strong Bones (I)

In order to build and maintain bone density, there are 2 types of exercises:

• Weight-bearing.
• Muscle-strengthening.

Let's start with weight-bearing exercises:

They are exercises that make you move against gravity while staying upright. They can be high-impact or low-impact, as shown in the image above.

High-impact weight-bearing exercises help build bones and keep them strong. But, if you have broken a bone due to osteoporosis or are at risk of breaking it, it's better avoiding this type of exercises. In case of doubt, you should check with your healthcare provider.

Here below some examples of high-impact weight-bearing exercises:

• Dancing
• Doing high-impact aerobics
• Hiking
• Jogging/running
• Jumping Rope
• Stair climbing
• Tennis

If you can't do high-impact exercises, low-impact weight-bearing exercises are a safer alternative for you. Here below some low-impact weight-bearing exercises:

• Using elliptical training machines
• Doing low-impact aerobics
• Using stair-step machines
• Fast walking on a treadmill or outside

To increase your knowledge about this topic, consult the official web page of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Thanks for reading.

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. Osteoporosis is preventable. Recovered on 5th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

How to prevent osteoporosis (III)

The NOF suggests several actions to take care about osteoporosis, based on prevention and healthy living:

So, what can we do to protect our bones?

• Get enough calcium and vitamin D and eat a well balanced diet.
• Engage in regular exercise.
• Eat foods that are good for bone health, such as fruits and vegetables.
• Avoid smoking and limit alcohol to 2-3 drinks per day.

Image taken by George Stepanek

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for reading.

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. Osteoporosis is preventable. Recovered on 4th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

Osteoporosis: who and when ?

As you can see in the image below, peak bone mass in men are higher than in women.

Whilst children have more or less the same mass of skeletal calcium, with age, decreasing bone mass is more accentuated in women than in men. Indeed, at the age of 50-60, it decreases more rapidly than in men.

Bone density peaks occur at about 30 years of age.

Image taken from CFCF

Taking into account the race, while osteoporosis occurs in people from all ethnic groups, European or Asian ancestry predisposes for osteoporosis (Melton, 2003).

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for reading.

Rice university, 2013. Anatomy & Physiology. Recovered on 4th of May 2015 from http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/
Melton LJ, 2003. Epidemiology worldwide. Endocrinol. Metab. Clin. North Am. 32 (1): 1–13

How to prevent osteoporosis (II)

Did you know that about 85-90 percent of adult bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and 20 in boys?

Did you know that building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can help prevent osteoporosis later in life?

Let's see five steps NOF recommends to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis:

1. Get the calcium and vitamin D you need every day.

2. Do regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises.

3. Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol.

4. Talk to your healthcare provider about your chance of getting osteoporosis and ask when

you should have a bone density test.

5. Take an osteoporosis medication when it’s right for you.

For more information, don't stop reading this pdf taken from the NOF.

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for reading.

Microarchitecture of bone in health and in osteoporosis. Image taken from Gtirouflet

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. Osteoporosis is preventable. Recovered on 4th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

May is national osteoporosis month!

January, February, March, April, and... we are now on May! May is national osteoporosis month and since this blog is dedicating several posts to it, we shouldn't let this pass by.

Photo taken by James Heilman

Click here to donwload the poster in pdf.

Thanks for helping us creating a healthier world :)

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2015. May is National Osteoporosis Month. Recovered on 4th of May 2015 from http://nof.org

Osteoporosis: how to help!

Just in the USA, osteoporosis causes two million bone breaks every year.

Your help and support is critical to advance the research and discoveries to support current osteoporosis patients and prevent the disease for future generations.  Please donate today or learn more about how you can join NOF efforts by participating in a local support group, joining the Inspire online community, hosting an event and more.

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), 2015. Recoverd on 4th of May 2015 from http://nof.org/

How to prevent osteoporosis (I)

These are the advises the American  College of Rheumatology suggests to prevent osteoporosis:

- Make sure you get enough calcium in your diet or throughout supplements (about 1000-1200 mg / day, but depending on your age). 

- Get enough vitamin D (400-1,000 IU / day, depending on your age and level of vitamin D in blood controlled by your doctor).

- Stop smoking.

- Avoid excessive alcohol intake: no more than two or three swigs a day .

- Do weight-bearing exercises. Try at least two hours per week (30 minutes a day, five times a week or 50 minutes a day, three times a week), or as much as you can. Exercises which can improve balance, like Tai Chi or yoga, can help prevent falls.

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for reading.

Photo taken by Tom Thai

Shreyasee Amin, 2012. American College of Rheumatology.

How do women face midlife ?

Coinciding with menopause, for many women, midlife is considered a complicated period of life in which several changes occur:

• Psycho-social and physiological changes [1].
• Menopausal related weight gain [2].
• Women are less likely to comply with physical activity recommendations, and when potentially deleterious effects of earlier health and lifestyle behaviours become apparent and chronic disease risk increases [3].

Some women face this phase with relief but many others face it with lots of negative emotions. The reason of this duality can be that the expectation and anticipation of these symptoms would make it easier for the first group [4].

So, taking this into account, we recommend knowing in advance the possible effects menopause could provoke in the organism so that women get mentally and physically prepared to face midlife.

Many thanks to Debra Anderson and Charlotte Seib [5] for their article published online on January, 2015. You can check it out by clicking here.

Photo taken by Marina Guimaraes

[1] Lawlor DA, Ebrahim S, Smith GD. The association of socio-economic position across the life course and age at menopause: the British Women’s Heart and Health Study. BJOG 2003;110(12):1078–87.

[2] Nejat EJ, Polotsky AJ, Pal L. Predictors of chronic disease at midlife and beyond the health risks of obesity. Maturitas 2010;65(2):106–11.

[3] Mishra GD, Cooper R, Kuh D. A life course approach to reproductive health: theory and methods. Maturitas 2010;65(2):92–7.

[4] Melby MK, Sievert LL, Anderson D, Obermeyer CM. Overview of methods used in cross-cultural comparisons of menopausal symptoms and their determinants: Guidelines for Strengthening the Reporting of Menopause and Aging (STROMA) studies. Maturitas 2011;70(2):99–109.

[5] Anderson D, Seib C. Does exercise alleviate menopausal symptoms in women? Maturitas 2015;80(1):1-2.