EXERCISE TIP: Healthy Bones

Exercise helps to build and maintain muscles and strong bones. It is vital for preventing falls and fractures and also plays a crucial role in rehabilitation after injury. Muscle strengthening exercises such as resistance training can help to rebuild bone in people who have developed osteoporosis and also prevents healthy people from developing osteoporosis.

Studies show exercise and bone maintenance to be linked, whilst regular weight bearing exercise and strength training can prevent bone loss associated with ageing and menopause. What are weight bearing exercises? These exercises use large muscle groups in a rhythmic pattern in a standing position, at a rate that increases the heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate to at least a 'moderate' level i.e. breathing heavily but can still talk. Examples of weight bearing exercises include walking, running, stair climbing and aerobics. Examples of non-weight bearing exercises include swimming, cycling, seated steppers and arm exercises, and these exercises do not enhance bone density. It has been shown, that rapid, short bursts of high intensity and/or high impact activities such as jogging, jumping and rope skipping are more stimulating to bone cells than sustained, low impact activity such as walking.

Along with weight bearing exercises, it is also important to do some resistance training which involves the use of targeted muscle groups to lift and lower moderate to heavy weights slowly. Resistance training has been shown to be as affective as non-weight bearing activity in terms on keeping healthy bones. It has been shown that lifting heavy weights is more effective than lifting light weights, whilst rapid movements are more stimulating for bone adaptation than slow movements.

Practising balance exercises are also an important part of bone health, as it helps to prevent falls and the risk of fracture. They are exercise that stress your body by narrowing the base of support, removing vision, decreasing foot contact with the ground and changing your body's centre of gravity are all balancing exercises. Examples include standing on one leg with your eyes closed, Tai Chi, heel-to-toe walking and balancing while placing a pillow under your feet.

The most important elements of the exercise prescription for bone health are high intensity progressive weight lifting exercise and progressively more difficult balance training, with the addition of high impact exercise (such as jumping). If you stop progressing through the training, adaptation of your bones and muscle also stops. So to make sure you have healthy bones, aim to improve your balance, coordination, strength and agility through weight bearing exercises and resistance training.