When your feet and legs carry your body weight, more stress is placed on your bones, making your bones work harder. Weight-bearing describes any activity you do on your feet that works your bones and muscles against gravity. Try to maintain good spine posture with all your activities. Leaning over to tie your shoes or sweeping and mopping can lead to spine fractures in people at high risk of spine fracture. Postural stretching and strengthening can help prevent or decrease the amount of upper spine slumping seen in many older people. For example, walking can improve bone strength in the legs and spine but not in the wrist. Exercises to improve bone strength are site-specific. The two types that are most effective for building strong bones are weight-bearing exercise and strength-training exercise. There are many different types of exercise and they all offer health benefits. This becomes especially important as we get older because it helps to prevent falls and the broken bones that may result. This improvement in bone requires good nutrition, including adequate calcium and Vitamin D.Īnother benefit of exercise is that it improves balance and coordination. When you exercise regularly, your bone adapts by building more bone and becoming denser. Because bone is living tissue, it changes over time in response to the forces placed upon it. Exercise is important for building strong bones when we are younger, and it is essential for maintaining bone strength when we are older. People who develop osteoporosis or sarcopenia are considered frail: more likely to fall and more likely to break a bone.Įxercise works on bones much like it works on muscles - it makes them stronger.

We also tend to lose muscle as we age - a condition called sarcopenia. This bone-thinning disease puts people at a greater risk for broken bones, which can seriously limit mobility and independence. It often occurs in women after menopause, and in men in older age. Inactivity causes loss of bone!Īging, along with certain diseases and medications, can cause bones to become very weak and fragile over time - a condition called osteoporosis. Perhaps not as well understood is the importance of regular physical activity in building and maintaining healthy bones. Most people are familiar with many of the benefits of exercise, such as improving muscle strength and endurance, reducing the risk for heart disease and stroke, and preventing obesity.

Another word for running exercises