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Stories for Reprint
Weight-training Might Help Preserve Bones
By Katerina Pesheva, MARRTC Staff
For years, people with declining bone density and/or osteoporosis have been told to engage in regular weight-bearing exercise such as running, walking and stair climbing. However, new research suggests that if you are healthy and active, adding weight training to your weight-bearing regimen will help you preserve your bones, as well as help you prevent falls and fractures.
In fact, several studies have shown that picking up the dumbbells might help ward off bone loss and prevent osteoporosis, a condition marked by loss of bone density, which affects 10 million Americans, and can cause life-threatening fractures.
All types of exercise help you preserve your bones, but if your primary goal is to maintain your bone mass, then weight training might be more helpful than aerobic exercise, according to a meta-analysis of studies published in the January 1999 edition of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Your bones also benefit from taking supplements such as vitamin D and calcium, but it is weight-training you also improve your strength, muscle mass and balance, all of which may make you less likely to fall and break a limb if your bones are already thinning away, according to researchers.
Another study, published in the January 2001 edition of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, found that resistance training improved overall bone mineral density in both women of childbearing age and post-menopausal women.
Other researchers have found that doing a combination of exercises - weight training, weight bearing and aerobic - is more beneficial to your bones than performing one type of physical activity.
Whether you decide to start pumping iron or not, make sure you discuss it with your doctor first.
Dr. Kathryn Diemer, director of the Bone Health Program at Washington University in St. Louis, warns that while healthy people can safely engage in more aggressive strength training, people with osteoporosis should be more careful.
"Patients with osteoporosis are at high risk for injury if they use the weight incorrectly, so I think they need help with either a physical therapist or a knowledgeable personal trainer," Diemer explains.
No matter what exercise program you choose, strive for a variety of physical activities.
"In terms of exercise, weight bearing is important,"Diemer says. "Balance training is also important for older patients. Tai Chi, balance boards all help core strengthening and fall prevention. General strengthening is important for overall health and fracture prevention."
A note of warning:
If you are a woman going through menopause and experiencing rapid bone loss, exercise alone won't do the trick. Other ways to preserve your bones include regular calcium intake (1,500 mg per day), regular vitamin D intake (400 IU per day), limited intake of alcohol and not smoking.
Steroid medications, such as prednisone, can also make your bones thin and brittle regardless of your age. Therefore, anyone who is on steroid therapy should consult a physician on ways to ward off bone loss caused by the medication.
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Weight training vs. Weight bearing
Weight training is a form of exercise designed to improving the strength and size of skeletal muscles. Weight training usually involves lifting progressively increasing amounts of weight and uses a variety of exercises and types of equipment to target specific muscle groups. Lifting dumbbells is the simplest and most basic form of weight training. Weight training can be also done using bars and more specialized weight machines.
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Weight bearing is any type of activity that stresses the bones by requiring the body's full weight to be moved. Running, jogging, walking and stairclimbing are all considered weight-bearing exercises. Swimming and biking are not weight-bearing exercises. In weight-bearing exercise, the amount of calories burnt varies proportionally to body weight. In non-weight bearing exercises (such as biking and swimming) the amount of calories burnt is not affected by body weight.
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