Osteoporosis and Exercise: What Types of Exercise Should You Be Doing?
Being diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia often raises an important question:
What exercise should I actually be doing?
Staying physically active is important for your overall health, but when it comes to osteoporosis, simply “doing more exercise” is not necessarily the whole answer. Different forms of exercise provide different benefits, and an appropriate program should consider your bone health, strength, balance, previous exercise experience and individual risk factors.
At Body Fit Physiotherapy in North Adelaide, we commonly help people who want to exercise but are uncertain about where to start following a diagnosis of osteoporosis or osteopenia.
Why is exercise important for osteoporosis?
Our bones respond to the physical demands placed upon them. Exercise that appropriately loads the body can form an important part of maintaining bone and musculoskeletal health.
Exercise is also about much more than bone density.
As we get older, maintaining muscle strength, balance and physical capacity becomes increasingly important. These factors can influence how confidently and independently we perform everyday activities and can also be relevant to falls prevention.
For this reason, osteoporosis exercise programs will often incorporate multiple different types of exercise rather than focusing on one activity alone.
1. Resistance and strength training
Resistance training involves working your muscles against an external resistance. This might include:
Free weights
Resistance machines
Resistance bands
Body-weight exercises
Functional strengthening exercises
The resistance needs to be appropriate for the individual and can be progressively adjusted as strength and exercise capacity improve.
For someone who hasn't performed strength training for many years, this doesn't mean immediately lifting heavy weights. The initial priority may be learning appropriate technique and gradually building tolerance to resistance exercise.
Over time, the program can be progressed according to the person's capacity, goals and clinical considerations.
2. Weight-bearing exercise
Weight-bearing exercise refers to activities performed while supporting your body weight through your legs.
Examples can include walking and other upright activities, while some people may be suitable for more challenging or higher-impact exercise.
However, the appropriate level of loading is not the same for everybody.
Someone who is relatively young, strong and experienced with exercise may have a very different program from someone who has significant osteoporosis, previous fragility fractures, impaired balance or has been inactive for many years.
This is why osteoporosis exercise shouldn't simply be reduced to a generic list of exercises found online.
3. Balance training
Balance training can be another important part of an osteoporosis exercise program, particularly as we get older.
Exercises may challenge factors such as:
Standing with a narrower base of support
Changing body position
Stepping and changing direction
Moving over different surfaces
Single-leg control
Responding to progressively more challenging balance tasks
The difficulty needs to be appropriate. Balance exercises that are too easy may provide little challenge, while exercises that are unnecessarily difficult may expose someone to avoidable falls risk.
The aim is to provide a safe but meaningful challenge that can be progressed as balance improves.
Is walking enough if you have osteoporosis?
Walking is an excellent form of physical activity and has many health benefits. For many people, it should remain part of their weekly activity.
However, walking alone does not provide all of the same benefits as a comprehensive osteoporosis exercise program.
In particular, someone who only walks may be missing adequate progressive resistance training and targeted balance work.
Rather than thinking of walking and strength training as alternatives, it can be more useful to consider how different forms of activity can complement each other.
What exercises should you avoid with osteoporosis?
There isn't one universal list of exercises that everyone with osteoporosis must avoid.
Exercise selection should consider factors including:
Bone density and osteoporosis severity
Previous fragility fractures
Spinal or other musculoskeletal conditions
Strength and balance
Current physical capacity
Previous exercise experience
Other medical conditions
Certain movements or higher-load activities may need to be modified for some people, particularly where fracture risk is elevated.
However, unnecessarily avoiding exercise can also mean missing opportunities to maintain or improve strength and physical function.
The goal should therefore be appropriate exercise selection and progression, rather than simply becoming fearful of movement.
How hard should you exercise?
This is another reason an individual assessment can be valuable.
Exercise needs to provide sufficient stimulus to create adaptation, but the appropriate starting point will vary considerably between individuals.
Someone who has been strength training consistently for years will require a different program from someone beginning resistance exercise for the first time at 70.
A program can then be progressed over time as strength, technique and confidence improve.
A more complete approach to osteoporosis
Exercise is only one component of osteoporosis management.
Depending on your circumstances, management may also involve your GP or specialist and consideration of factors such as medication, calcium and vitamin D, nutrition, lifestyle factors, falls risk and other medical conditions.
Physiotherapy and exercise should complement appropriate medical management rather than replace it.
Osteoporosis Exercise Programs in North Adelaide
At Body Fit Physiotherapy in North Adelaide, we work with people with osteoporosis and osteopenia who want to remain active and build their physical capacity.
Our approach begins by considering the individual rather than simply providing everyone with the same osteoporosis exercise program.
Depending on your needs, this may include assessment of your strength, balance, mobility, exercise history and current physical capacity before developing an appropriate exercise program.
The aim is to help you find a level of exercise that is appropriate for where you are now and can be progressed over time.
Learn more about our Osteoporosis Physiotherapy & Exercise Program in North Adelaide:
Comments