Did you know that every 3 seconds someone fractures a bone due to osteoporosis? There are specific types of exercises that can be done to help maintain and improve your bone and muscle strength, regardless of your activity level. Weight bearing exercises and muscle strengthening exercises help to improve your bone strength to decrease your risk of fracture.
High Impact Weight Bearing Exercises
Help to build your bones and make them strong. However, if you are at risk of breaking a bone or have broken a bone due to osteoporosis, these exercises may not be for you. You should check with your physician before beginning any of these:
- Dancing
- Hiking, Jogging, Running
- Stair climbers
- Tennis
Low Impact Weight Bearing Exercises
Are good for people who cannot do high impact exercises due to broken bones or the high risk for broken bones.
- Elliptical machines
- Walking
- Yoga or Pilates with direction from a trained individual to keep you safe
Muscle Strengthening Exercises
Are used to build and maintain your bone density.
- Weight lifting using light weights or weight machines
- Functional strengthening – lifting your own body weight or doing functional activities such as sit to stand or standing on tip toes.
There are screening tests that help to determine your risk for osteoporotic fractures. If you are concerned about osteoporosis and fractures, our therapists can take you through an osteoporosis screen as well as exercise program to help decrease your risk for falls. Check out our osteoporosis page for more information.
Information taken from the National Osteoporosis Foundation