{"id":1301,"date":"2014-10-16T09:12:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T23:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/?p=1301"},"modified":"2016-11-17T09:51:22","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:51:22","slug":"osteoporosis-is-weight-training-the-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/aerobic-fitness\/osteoporosis-is-weight-training-the-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Osteoporosis — Is Weight Training the solution?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every 5 minutes, someone is admitted to hospital with an osteoporotic fracture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is weight training the solution?<\/p>\n

With two-thirds of women and one-third of men over 60 suffering an osteoporotic fracture, the race is on to find a way to reverse bone damage. Beverley Hadgraft investigates:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Whenever associate professor Belinda Beck hears of another school that\u2019s banned kids from doing cartwheels or playing on the monkey bars, she despairs. Why? Because for every child who suffers an injury from such activities, 10,000 more will benefit in terms of reducing their future risk of osteoporosis just my doing weight-bearing and osteogenic exercises (specific to bone development \u2013 such as twisting, turning and jumping) at an age when it really matters, she says.<\/p>\n

Beck, who\u2019s a professor at the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research at the Griffith Health Institute in Queensland, says most of our lifelong bone mass is built before the age of 20. \u201cYou can increase your bone bank to such an extent during that period that when you start losing bone \u2013 as everyone does \u2013 your bone mass never falls below the fracture threshold,\u201d she explains. This means you\u2019re less likely to develop osteoporosis, the disease in which bones weaken and are more prone to fracture.<\/p>\n

While this is good advice for our kids, what does it mean for the current osteoporosis epidemic in adults? Every five to six minutes, someone is admitted to an Australian hospital with an osteoporotic fracture, and this is set to rise to every three to four minutes by 2021.<\/p>\n

The Potential Benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n

So can bone density be increased later in life? \u201cThat\u2019s the million-dollar question that we need more research on,\u201d Beck says. For this reason, she and her team have recruited 100 post-menopausal women with low bone mass for an exercise study, with the aim of finding out if it\u2019s possible to increase bone density through serious weight training.<\/p>\n

In the past, heavy weight training has been discouraged for those with osteoporosis because lifting heavy weights incorrectly can crush the vertebrae (and anyone with low bone density shouldn\u2019t embark on a weightlifting program unless it\u2019s properly supervised and they\u2019ve spoken to their GP or specialist). However, Beck became interested in the idea of using such training as a treatment after hearing of a Queensland woman with osteoporosis whose bone density had improved through lifting weights.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago, Gold Coast Olympic weightlifter Lisa Weis was approached by the woman, who\u2019d read that lifting weights might improve her condition. Weis, who has a degree in human movement, agreed to teach her the correct technique, and showed her how to keep her back straight and core engaged, and use compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, push-ups and chin-ups.<\/p>\n

After subsequent scans revealed that the woman\u2019s bone density had improved, Weis chose to become a specialist in helping osteoporotic women improve their condition. \u201cI now have women in their 60\u2019s who can effortlessly deadlift 60kg or 70kg and do chin-ups,\u201d Weis says. \u201cAnd a 74-year-old who can deadlift her bodyweight.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good outcome in itself, she says, as it improves mobility and therefore the chances of independent living in older age. \u00a0However, equally impressive have been her clients\u2019 scans which, she says, have shown a halt in bone decline and even increases in bone density \u2013 one woman saw an increase of 5.8 per cent \u2013 without medication.<\/p>\n

Protecting Your Bones<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given the unpleasant side-effects of the current medication used to treat osteoporosis, Beck says that finding a non-pharmacological treatment would benefit thousands of Australians. When Weis first approached Beck with her findings, the researcher admits she wasn\u2019t sure what to make of the results, but says now that Weis is \u201cusing very correct technique so it\u2019s possible that she\u2019s using a strategy that\u2019s safe and effective\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Griffith study will see one group of women do a supervised resistance training program, while the other will do a home-based controlled exercise program, twice a week for eight months. Calcium intake will be monitored, and the participants will then be tested for improvement in bone strength, body composition and physical function.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Beck says we should all be actively working to reduce our osteoporosis risk. Weight-bearing exercise such as brisk walking, jogging, skipping and dancing, and resistance training such as lifting hand weights or ankle weights, have been found to improve bone density. Her earlier research has also shown that regular stomping can help to maintain bone density, and she says a way to incorporate this into daily life is to stomp every morning while you clean your teeth.<\/p>\n

Other proven ways to reduce your risk include eating a healthy diet with three to five serves of calcium-rich food (at least 1000mg) a day \u2013 such as dairy products, legumes and oily fish \u2013 and getting enough vitamin D from safe sun exposure.<\/p>\n

IF YOU HAVE OSTEOPOROSIS<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to consult your doctor or physiotherapist about any exercise regime. Don\u2019t attempt heavy lifting, jumping, twisting or jarring without medical advice.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every 5 minutes, someone is admitted to hospital with an osteoporotic fracture. Is weight training the solution? With two-thirds of women and one-third of men over 60 suffering an osteoporotic fracture, the race is on to find a way to reverse bone damage. Beverley Hadgraft investigates: Whenever associate professor Belinda Beck hears of another school … Continue reading Osteoporosis — Is Weight Training the solution?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,21,11,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aerobic-fitness","category-articles","category-fitness","category-muscle-and-fitness","category-muscle-and-strength"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1301"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1508,"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301\/revisions\/1508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerobicdancing.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}