Why Weight Bearing Exercises For Osteoporosis Are Key
You’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia. Your doctor has likely told you that weight-bearing exercises for osteoporosis are beneficial. These specific types of exercise can:
Friends may have told you how Pilates has helped them with strength and balance. However, you have to be careful which exercises you choose to do when you have osteoporosis. Your bone loss symptoms can be exacerbated by certain movements and exercises.
That’s not meant to scare you; rather it’s meant to encourage you to examine your current exercise routine. You need to ensure you are exercising in a way that’s safe for osteoporosis. Today we will go over what unsafe osteoporosis exercises are, and why they’re unsafe. We will also tell you where to find safe weight bearing osteoporosis workouts.
Why Some Exercises Can Worsen Osteoporosis
All in all, an osteoporosis diagnosis is your chance to get stronger than you have been in a very long time.
It is important to give your tissues time to adapt to load if you have osteoporosis or osteopenia. We’re talking about exercises like: running/jogging, jumping, or anything that requires rapid, jerky movements.
Your bones require time and training so they can adapt to the load you’re putting on them during these activities. Jumping into high intensity exercises can make weakened bones more vulnerable to fractures. In time, with some conditioning, these exercises can be perfect.
Exercises that require a lot of flexing the spine (especially the thoracic spine) are another type to be avoided when you have osteoporosis. These exercises include:
These movements put extra pressure on the front of your vertebra, and can add to the microfractures of the vertebra that make osteoporosis such a silent disease.
Remember the friend who said Pilates was a good choice when it comes to weight-bearing exercises for osteoporosis? It’s true, but there are some movements in the classical repertoire that move your body exactly like the no-nos that were mentioned above.
Finally, any kind of sport that has an increased risk of falling such as rollerblading, skiing, and/or contact sports can be dangerous. These sports increase the chance of your already-fragile bones being fractured in a fall or hit. Now, if you train for balance and control the chance of falling becomes less, and can make these exercises safer.
Where To Find Weight-Bearing Exercises For Osteoporosis At Home
It may sound like you are limited when it comes to exercise if you are diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia. That’s not necessarily true! You just need to make sure you are doing these exercises safely.
If you’re taking the Fitstreams course Pilates For Osteoporosis, you can be certain that you’re doing proper weight-bearing exercises for osteoporosis.
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