By Riley Anastasi, Physiotherapist & Exercise Scientist at Form & Practice Olinda
Bone responds to mechanical stress. Load it, and it adapts. Ignore it, and it weakens. This is why people with weaker bones, those with osteoporosis or osteopenia, cannot afford to avoid exercise. This avoidant behavior only allows bones to weaken further, develop balance deficits and increase their risk of a fall and bone fracture.
What Kind of Load Works?
The science is clear, there are specific types of exercise that will make your bones stronger. These types of exercise area:
- Axial loading (also known as weight-bearing): These exercises tend ot predominantly target your spine (specifically your lumber spine) and your hip bone density.
- Impact loading: Bones are designed to help absorb the force that our muscles are not quick enough too. Integrating impact loading exercises into your bone program provides an extra layer, an extra stimulus, to grow your bone strength. This is also often missed in peoples training out in gyms, and may explain why some people do not see the results they need.
- Progressive resistance training: gradual increases in the resistance of your exercises to correlate with the gradual increased in your bone strength. At different times of your training, your weights may move faster or slower, but we always want these to pair nicely with your bone density so that your bones continue to strengthen.
How Often Should You Train?
Training two times per week, at a minimum, will get you to see results in your bone strength. Training 3 times per week is ideal for stimulating bone growth.
Most importantly of all, when it comes to bone – Consistency beats short-lived intensity. Bone adapts slowly, as such we need to give it time with a continual stimulus to nag that bone to get stronger. Taking control of your bone health is not a quick fix; it is a long-term, scientifically proven method to get you back to your life with confidence in your body.
What About Overuse?
Too much load, too fast can lead to injury. I think we can all think of someone that has overdone it in the past and things haven’t quite gone to their plan. Here at Form & Practice, your bone program will be conducted under the supervision of physiotherapists to ensure this doesn’t happen.
Our Bone Strengthening program scales intensity based on your individual bone health, pain or symptoms, and history. Our program is designed for people that want to improve their bone health, and that’s exactly what it does.
Summary
Whether you’re osteoporotic or an elite athlete, bones need load to stay strong.
If you want to learn how to train your bones safely? Book a consultation with one of our physio’s to provide you clarity on your next steps.