Exercise For Osteoporosis

Weight-bearing exercise is one of the best ways to prevent or manage osteoporosis. Your bone strength increases when the bone is placed under load and stress during exercise. The type of exercise therefore should be weight-bearing as it will place more load through the bone than non weight-bearing exercises such as swimming or cycling. In this blog we are going to discuss different types of weight-bearing exercises that can help improve your bone health.

Weight-bearing Exercise:

Exercise whilst you are loading through your feet. For example, Running, fast walking, stairs, tennis, netball.

Along with weight-bearing exercise, resistance exercise also increases the load through your bones whilst exercising.

Resistance Exercise:

Any exercise which your muscles are working by pulling on your bones. For example, lifting weights or pulling on bands.

How to get the most out of your exercise?

Whether you are doing weight-bearing or resistance exercise, it is important that the exercise is regular. Osteoporosis Australia recommends exercising at least three times per week. It is also more beneficial if you vary the type of weight-bearing or resistance exercise. This allows your bones to strengthen in different planes of movement. So remember to mix up your routine and try a variety of exercises.

Balance Retraining:

It should also be noted that balance is an important exercise consideration for someone with osteoporosis. Whilst balance doesn’t improve your bone strength, it will help prevent falls which could result in a fractured bone. Even a small fall can result in a fracture for someone living with osteoporosis. Therefore it is important that this is incorporated into your exercise program to reduce your falls risk.

If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or you are interested in improving your bone strength to prevent the onset of osteoporosis, come in for an assessment with one of our experienced Bend + Mend Physios today. Our physio’s can develop an individualised exercise program to suit your body’s specific needs.