Osteoporosis exercises
We spend the first 30 years of life creating a strong bone mass foundation and if we don't pay attention, we spend the rest of our lives depleting them. Our precious bones are living, changing and refreshing themselves just the same as our skin and hair. Just as our muscles need exercise, so do our bones.
I've been doing some reading about osteoporosis exercises and have found advice varies. One source said to do anything like marching on the spot to skipping or just, "jumping off the bottom step each time you come down the stairs". Wow, my lower back quivered at the sight of those words. This advise would not help me at all because of my spine degeneration, so because of this alone, I highly recommend you see a physio therapist or doctor. Or hire a qualified personal trainer who specializes in osteoporosis that can give you personal advice to you own condition. I believe the bottom line is that if it hurts or causes pain anywhere then stop. They say if your muscles hurt any longer than 48 hours after exercising, you've overdone it and should not exercise until the pain is gone -- then when you return to your program to not go all hog wild. Slow down and build your muscles in their time, not yours. You know that old Chinese saying "Don't push the river". I bought a calendar that I check off each day that I exercise and I try to exercise every day. They say 30 minutes a day is optimal so that is my goal. I don't always feel like it but I remember them telling us in Weight Watchers about the 15 minute rule. We must begin our activity and continue for 15 minutes and then if we still don't want to exercise then we can stop at that point to return the next day. Usually by the time that 15 minute mark has come, I've either forgotten about it or am enjoying myself too much to quit. For women with my condition (osteopenia and disc degeneration), I have been cautioned to avoid any bending, flexing or twisting as well as to avoid high impact exercises like running, or jumping. The rule of thumb for me is to think "controlled exercise", to think unexpected movements like tennis, golf or rowing machines. So what kind of osteoporosis exercises should I do? Weight bearing like working against gravity. Thank heaven hiking is one of these. Where I live there is a mountain close by that I love to hike up, but the blessing is that there is a gondola at the top that takes me back to the bottom so I don't have to pound my feet, spine and back trying to manoeuvre the trails downhill. I know that they say that swimming and cycling (not weight bearing) are good for me but I don't have much interest in them. The swimming pools turn my hair green and cycling aggravates my back. Another exercise is weight training and I used to do that but for some reason or other I gave that up. It's time for me to return to it.
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The gig is up and now I have to get serious about finding the right osteoporosis exercises.