Osteoporosis exercises

First, a warning about Osteoporosis exercises: if you have been diagnosed with Osteoporosis there some exercises that you will want to avoid since they could cause a fracture to your weakened bones.

Exercises to avoid. You want to avoid any exercise that requires you to curl your spine. Why?  If you have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis of the spine, you want to keep your spine straight.  Curling your spine means that a vertebra higher in your spine will put pressure on the front edge of the vertebra below it. This extra pressure could cause the lower vertebra to endure too much pressure and the front edge could  crumble. Such fractures, called 'crush fractures' are not only painful but they do not heal like a regular bone fracture. The vertebral edge remains 'dented' and the vertebra above has no support on its the front edge, so it 'tips forward'.  This makes the spine above the fracture tip forward and you have the beginnings of  kyphosis or a back hump. (Sometimes called: dowagers hump).

If you want to read more about this type of spinal fracture and what can be done for them click on: Kyphosis or dowagers hump

Avoiding Osteoporosis exercises that can cause spinal fractures

When you are exercising and you bend forward, be sure to bend from your hips, not from your waist.  Also, do not curve your spine when you bend.

Why? Because if you allow your spine to curve, it will put undue pressure on the edge of some vertebrae. Upper vertebrae will press on the vertebrae below them. That extra pressure can causes the edge of the lower vertebra to crumble. And you suffer a 'crush fracture'. 

There is not much that health care providers can do for crush fractures. You will have pain, the vertebra remains 'crushed' and your spine tip forward a bit after you have healed. That slight 'tipping' puts you on your way to developing a dowagers hump.  Not a good thing.

What kinds of Osteoporosis exercises are good?

There are two kinds of Osteoporosis exercise you want to do regularly.

First you want to do balance exercises so you are less likely to trip and fall.

Second you want to do 'weight bearing exerices' because these are the exercises that will stimulate your body to build new bone.

Read about: balance exercises

Read about: weight bearing exercises

Finally, I feel I can not leave this topic without mentioning a special kind of vest, Hyper Vest Pro.

Yes, I have one of these vests. Unlike most weight vests the Hyper Vest Pro uses many small weights so you can continue to add weight for a much longer time that you could useing a weight vest created for athletes.

I wrote some pages about this vest. You can read them by clicking: Hyper Vest Pro.