Bone Loss: Say it isn't so.

Bone Loss: Say It Isn't So

There’s a lot of things we take for granted. Things we believe are true that we just accept without investigation. Some of those beliefs are centered around aging. The thoughts/beliefs go something like this. “It’s hell to get old.” “Getting old isn’t for the weak.” “Just you wait until you get older.” These sentiments are usually linked to our general physical deterioration and chronic pain. Our knees start hurting. Our hips and back hurt. Our necks get stiff. It becomes harder to get up and down out of a chair. We start developing arthritis in our knees, hips, shoulders and hands. In other words, we become less and less capable and able to do the things we need to do let alone the things we want to do.

We then just accept that as the journey that we take as we get older. It doesn’t have to be. A lot of the conditions I mentioned above can be healed or at the very least their progression slowed down or stopped entirely by movement. Our bodies were designed to heal. They were also designed to move. To move in so many awesome ways. There is an interaction between these qualities of how we were designed. When we move our bodies the way they were designed to move that promotes healing and growth.

I’ve had several clients that defy these beliefs and self-imposed limits. One in particular reported some amazing results after her last physical. Two years previously she had a bone scan as she had been experiencing bone loss. That’s a common thing for people who are in their 70’s. She’s actually turned 79 this year. She was on the path to osteoporosis meaning her bones were getting more and more brittle. Her risk for fractures was increasing. This had been the trend for quite a while. She had a bone scan as a part of her physical this year. The results were rather amazing. Not only had the process of losing bone tissue stopped, but it had also been reversed. Pretty astonishing given that in the medical world they don’t generally see this process as being stopped let alone reversed. Most treatments have the goal of stopping or slowing down the bone loss.

So, what happened? We’ve been working together for over 3 years now. Most of what we’ve worked on is moving in the way her body is designed to move on a daily basis. We work on it and advance it in our 2 sessions together each week. More importantly she does it daily at home. It really doesn’t work if you only do it a couple times a week. We are designed to move daily. Designed to move in the way our bodies are designed to move. So, how did this help her reverse her bone loss?

Well, bone is a tissue just like muscles, ligaments, tendons and even our skin. Every cell of our bodies is replaced over specific time sequences. In effect, we are entirely new. We don’t have any of the cells we were born with. Depending on how old you are you may have several generations of cells. Tissues like muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones are designed to grow in response to physical stress. We’re all probably familiar with the muscle growth that’s possible by lifting weights. We’ve seen the athletes and body builders who’ve gained significant/massive amounts of muscle mass by lifting weights and other activities. Lifting weights provides the stimulus for the muscle growth.

The same principle applies to bone tissue. When you apply a force along the bones the way it is structured, and you induce an impact into the bones, they respond by growing. They thicken to adapt to the new levels of force you are putting on them. Our bones are structured in a few different ways. In some the bone cells run straight, like our leg and arm bones. Some have a circular pattern, like our vertebrae. Others have cells that go in a variety of different directions that criss cross each other to provide even more strength and durability. So, to impact their growth and keep them healthy our bodies have to be moved in a variety of different ways, so the stress is applied to them in the direction the cells are structured.

The process of movement that I use with clients is called Original Strength. It follows the design template for how we first learned to move that is hardwired into our nervous system. So, my clients are rocking and rolling and crawling in all manner of ways. These movements provide the stress on all their bones in the way they are structured. Their bones are stimulated to grow to adapt to these new stresses. All of their bones. Not just the ones that are called upon to do a squat or to walk or run. But also, their hips, spine, feet and hands. The bone tissue they may have lost is regained by this additional stress applied in the way that the bone is structured. I believe that’s what happened for my client by moving her body the way it was designed to move. She is just one example of how the beliefs about aging that we’ve been conditioned to accept aren’t true. So, yes “It isn’t so.”

If you’d like to start regaining your capability and ability to do what you want to do as you grow older you can contact me via the website, contact page or email me at: gift_of_movement@msn.com. Let’s start your journey back to the active life you want. I look forward to hearing from you.