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Middle Age Health
How To Prevent Osteoporosis With Exercises
Give me just 5 minutes and I will show you a
couple of exercising ideas to prevent osteoporosis from setting in. About ten
million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, and about another 35 million have
low bone mass or osteopenia. Osteoporosis affects about 20% of men and 80% of
women.
While the bones gradually become more
brittle and weaker, they are more likely to break due to a fall or, if left
untreated, even from simple things like a sneeze. That is how serious the
disease can get. The most common fractures occur in the hip, wrist and spine,
although any bone in your body can also be affected.
A diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis
could be rather frightening leading some people to stop exercising because of
fear that it will cause fractures. These folks are sadly mistaken because the
truth is that people with low bone mass should try to exercise even more often
to strengthen their bones.
Being active not only helps to alleviate
problems with osteoporosis, it also helps to slow down bone loss once it has
already begun.
However it is important that before
you start an exercise program, it is important to consult your doctor for
guidelines as degree of bone loss determines what types of exercises are
suitable for you. Your medical professional can assess your bone mineral
density and fracture risk by scanning your body by using a special type of
X-ray machine.
In addition to exercise, osteoporosis
treatments may also include dietary modifications and/or estrogen replacement
therapy. The more knowledge you get relating to this medical condition, the
more you can do to help prevent its onset. Prevention is always better than
cure.
To create strength and bone mass,
both weight bearing and resistance training workouts are necessary. Weight
bearing exercises are the ones that require the bones to completely support
your weight against gravity. Examples of weight bearing exercises are walking,
jogging, stair climbing, dancing or using an elliptical exercise machine.
Non-weight bearing exercises include biking,
swimming, water aerobics and rowing. Weight bearing activities including
walking well under three times a week will manage to benefit the bones. If you
are already suffering from this bone degenration disease, then click How
To Reverse Osteoporosis.
Strength training places a mechanical
force on your body, which gives rise to increasing bone density. You can start
off by lifting light weights, moving in a slow and controlled manner,
increasing resistance as you become stronger and stronger. It is strongly
suggested that people with osteoporosis avoid the following activities:
*
Step aerobics and high-impact activities such as running, jumping, tennis as
these activities may damage the bones even more.
*
Activities that involve rounding, bending and twisting on the spine. This is
to avoid serious injuries to the spine.
*
Moving the legs sideways or across the body, specially when performed against
resistance. Again this is for your spine protection.
*
Rowing machines, trampolines.
* Any
kind of movement that involves pulling on the head and neck so that you do not
damage your cervical spine.
Exercise
Tips
*
Even if you don't have osteoporosis, it is best to talk with your health care
provider before you start an exercise program.
*
Remember to warm up before to starting and cool-down at the end of every
exercise session.
* To
optimise your bone health, combine several different weight-bearing exercises
in each session.
*
When you build strength, increase resistance, or weights, rather than just
plain repetitions.
*
Make sure you drink plenty of water whenever you are exercising.
*
Vary the types of exercises that you do week by week to prevent boredom and to
garner the benefits of the various exercises.
*
Combine weight bearing and resistance exercise with aerobic cardiovascular
exercises to help you improve your overall health.
*
Bring a friend along to exercise with you or better yet, bring your family and
encourage them to be healthy.
* Add
more work out to your day randomly such as taking the stairs instead of the
elevator, park your car further way from your final destination, and walk to
your colleague's desk rather than emailing.
Put
LIVE into action!
L - Load or weight-bearing exercises
strengthen your bones.
I -
Intensity builds stronger bones.
V -
Vary the kinds of exercises and your routine to reap the most benefits.
E -
Enjoy your exercises. Make it fun so you will continue and do not give up!
What Are The Causes Of Osteoporosis?
Certain factors raise the likelihood of developing
osteoporosis. While some of these risk factors are controllable, others
aren't.
High risk factors that may be controlled are
sedentary lifestyle, excess intake of protein, sodium, caffeine and/or
alcohol, smoking, calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies and taking certain
medicines. Body size (small body frame), gender, family history and ethnicity
are risk factors that cannot be controlled. Click
To Reverse Osteoporosis.
Women can lose nearly 20 percent of
their bone mass density in the five to seven years after reaching menopause,
making women much more vunerable to osteoporosis.
Sufficient calcium intake, a balanced diet
with a lot of vegetables and fruits and load bearing exercises will be the
tips for solid bone growth when you're young. Then, with continued exercise
into old age and this applies to men too, your bone density decline might be
kept to a minimum.
Although women will be the main focus
of data about osteoporosis and low bone density (osteopenia), some men are
also seriously afflicted by this age related bone degeneration problem.
In case you do all of the right things while
growing up, your inherited characteristics of your genes can present you with
bones that are susceptible to osteoporosis. Therefore this is a great impetus
to maximize your lifestyle to prevent this bone shattering disease.
Best
Wishes
Michelle Aultman
About The Author
- Michelle Aultman writes for the elliptical
trainer benefits blog. This is her personal hobby blog dedicated to
prevent osteoporosis through fitness at home and a healthy lifestyle.
Author's note: This article is designed
to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site
visitor and his/her medical professional. Michelle Aultman has no professional
intent and does not accept direct source of advertising coming from health or
pharmaceutical companies, doctors or clinics and websites.
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