The theme of this week’s Happy Monday is bone health. Whether or not you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia, maintaining strong bones should be paramount in your personal health plan. 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men will be diagnosed with osteoporosis. It is no longer a disease for the elderly and is striking people in their 50′s and 60′s.
Often osteoporosis is not discovered until a fracture is resulted from a fall. Don’t let this be you. If you are menopausal/andropausal (men’s version of menopause), then request a DEXA scan from your physician. Get a base line, know your numbers. Ensure you eat a healthy diet full of fish, dairy products (if you can tolerate), fresh fruits, vegetables and dark leafy greens while taking additional supplements if necessary. Avoid smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol. Prevention is always so much easier than back pedaling once the damage is done.
Including weight bearing activities such as walking, jogging and strength conditioning will help to keep your bones strong. Swimming and cycling are not considered weight bearing activities, so be sure to incorporate Pilates or other resistance training and walking if those are your main cardiovascular activities.
Pilates is a weight bearing activity and at the TWC, we do extra work that incorporates standing resistance exercises, balance training, and jump board to ensure we are building strong bones in all of our clients.
Below are two articles on Pilates and Osteoperosis and Total Body Vibration and Osteoporosis. I hope you find them helpful and invite you to forward them to anyone you know who is concerned about bone health.
In health,
Linda Mallard
Owner TWC
Knowing how to exercise safely can help prevent fractures but also improve bone density, balance and muscle tonification further protecting you from fractures. Research has proven that exercise alone can halt the progression of bone loss (Smith & Gilligan1987) and Pilates is a great form of weight bearing exercise.
Osteoporosis or porous bone disease is a disease characterized by low bone mass density (BMD) and structural deterioration of bone tissue. This leads to increased susceptibility to bone fractures. Osteoporosis is not necessarily a natural progression of growing older. It is a systemic skeletal disease that causes bones to slowly lose their density and mass-their supporting structure. This often happens with no symptoms until significant deterioration has taken place. As osteoporosis progresses, the bones become weak and are vulnerable to breaking. When the bones become too fragile they can break under the stress of performing ordinary tasks such as lifting a light object, coughing, bending over, losing balance, or simply standing.
You cannot “feel’ osteoporosis. You will require a DEXA scan to determine your bone density. However there are symptoms of Osteoporosis that include:
- Back pain
- Loss of height over time
- Stooped posture
- Fracture of the hip, wrist, vertebrae, jaw, or other bones
The most vulnerable areas for fractures are the thoracic spine (T6, T7, T8 between shoulder blades) and hips.
While Pilates is a fantastic form of exercise for this condition, there are some movements that you will need to modify to ensure your safety. As a general rule, you will need to avoid all forward flexion particularly of the thoracic spine and rotation. With this, exercises like the hundred and spine rotation along with many of the matwork exercises will need to be modified for you.
The Pilates equipment available at the TWC is perfect for anyone needing to avoid these movements. The equipment is designed to condition your total body, including core muscles without having to lift your head or flex your spine if need be.
A straight matwork class is not recommended as a person with osteoporosis would have to sit much of the class out unless the instructor is able to provide modifications. Also, if you are taking Pilates anywhere other than the TWC, make sure your instructor is certified by a reputable Pilates organization. Weekend courses are not enough to understand the depths of the Pilates Method and you may be at risk for injury.
Optimal positions for you would be:
- neutral spine
- L-shape hip hinge
- extension
Pilates is a weight-bearing exercise. It emphasizes alignment of the body – elongating the spine and aligning it with the pelvis, hips, legs, feet, shoulders and head. Pilates will improve your balance and control to prevent falls and build the strength needed to improve your confidence in moving. Pilates emphasizes strengthening of the “core” – the muscles responsible for stabilizing the lower back and pelvis. When these muscles are strong, there is less effort to maintain an upright position and less risk of falling.
TWC instructors are knowledgable about the exercise precautions for osteoporosis and our small class sizes or choice of one-on-one instructionwill ensure your safety.
TWC instructors are able to modify exercises for you in our regular classes. However, we have created a specialized class specific to Osteoporosis where no modifications will be necessary. We will select only the exercises appropriate to you and make sure we emphasize balance, control, posture and alignment.
FRIDAY’S 11:30 AM – PILATES AND OSTEOPOROSIS – Starting September.30th. Register today.
Maximum of 4 clients/class. 7 week program with option to continue.
More classes can be added on demand. Let us know your schedule.
Remember, train your body to stay strong, agile and upright!
This “clumping” together of body parts leads to tension and pain in other parts of the body. Tight pectorals (chest) muscles will pull the shoulders forward putting stress on the upper back muscles. In order for us to balance, our head pokes forward and our shoulder rotates inward causing neck and jaw pain. The low back then overextends creating too much lordosis, which puts pressure on the low back. The hamstrings (back of the thigh) then become tight putting stress on the quadriceps causing knee pain and weak ankles. All of this started with tight pecs remember.
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