Bone Health: Our basic structure.

In the United States it’s estimated that 10 million people (about half the population of New York) 50 years and older have osteoporosis. Most of these are women with about 2 million being men. (Osteoporosis Workshop: https://health.gov/healthypeople/about/workgroups/osteoporosis-workgroup) They also estimate that 1 in 3 women over 50 and 1 in 5 men will experience osteoporotic fractures in their lifetime. (National Library of Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5335887/). 

Those statistics are alarming! Chances are you know someone or are someone who fits within those numbers. You probably know or have been advised on how to maintain bone health. Most doctors recommend doing weight training exercises to preserve bone tissue. Or doing activities that produce impact, such as walking or running. These are both good recommendations. Those types of activities do help in maintaining and increasing bone tissue. While this is true there are some more specifics to the weight training exercises that you should take into consideration. 

Weight training, even bodyweight calisthenic type exercise does apply tension to the bones. Tension is what stimulates bone growth. Specifically tension along the long axis of the bone. For example, the upper leg/femur is the biggest bone in your leg. Its long axis would be along the length of it. This bone also attaches to the pelvis with a ball type structure at that end of it. This is a spherical structure where the long axis is the entire surface of the structure. So, you need to apply the tension all the way around that surface to be effective. Activities that load hip rotation work well for that area. 

Another structure in our body that requires rotational movement to apply tension to stimulate bone growth is our spine. The long axis of each vertebra is around the outside of the bone. The horizontal circular surface of the bone. If you participate in activities like golf or tennis you get some rotation in your spine. Unfortunately, sometime too much of this rotation is in the lower back or lumbar spine. This area is supposed to stay stable, unmoving, most of the time. It forms the stable base that we can apply force through our arms and legs to accomplish the movement we desire. Rotation in this area of the back is best with light loads. Such as bodyweight exercises.  

When you incorporate movements/exercises that meet both requirements then you get the best results. Unfortunately, these types of exercises aren’t in most exercise programs and may not be a part of your recreational activities. We’ll address those concerns in the last part of this document.