Top 5 Bone Strengthening Exercises

Bones are similar to muscles, meaning they become stronger and healthier with exercise. Exercising helps with coordination, balance and maintaining muscle strength. Young adults that exercise regularly achieve maximum strength and bone density more than the ones who do not.

Interested to know more about bone strengthening exercises? Keep reading.

The best exercises to strengthen your bones are given below. However, before doing it, one must do enough warm-up and do it only till his/her tolerance levels.

1. Strength Training

Strength training exercises are necessary for building bone density. One can try lifting weights with his/her arms while standing or seated. This way, one can do justice to one's bone resistance for the vertebrae, legs, arms, and spine.

However, if one is seated during the exercise, one must make sure to keep his/her feet supported on footrests or on the floor. One should ensure not to twist his/her spine while doing the exercises or using the weight machines.

2. Resistance Exercises

By adding resistance exercises, one's muscles can release magnesium, calcium and other minerals which strengthen the bones. To do these bone strengthening exercises at home, one needs to use mechanical resistance from weight-bearing such as weights and resistive bands. These exercises include standing and seated pushups and band pulls.

However, one should do resistance exercises only according to his/her tolerance and ability. One needs to follow proper techniques and maintain proper form to prevent any further injury and derive the most from the workout.

3. Weight-Bearing Aerobic Activities

Weight-bearing aerobic activities are exercises which involve aerobic exercises on one's feet, and the bones will bear the weight. Examples of these activities include dancing, walking, elliptical training, stair climbing, low-impact aerobics and gardening.

These are the best exercises to strengthen bones as it directly involves one's legs, lower spine and hips' movement, thereby slowing mineral loss in bones. These also have cardiovascular benefits, which boost circulatory system health and improve heart health.

However, only aerobic activities do not become a part of one's whole exercise program. These are beneficial for one's overall health, but one should also focus on flexibility, balance and strength.

4. Flexibility Exercises

Flexibility exercises include exercises in which one needs to move his/her joints in full motion, which will help one to keep the muscles working well. These stretches are best performed after one has warmed up.

For example, one can do it at the end of one's exercise session or after a 10-minute warm-up. One should remember to do these exercises slowly and gently without bouncing. One should also avoid stretches that require one to flex one's spine or bend the waist.

5. Stability and Balance Exercises

Prevention from falling is especially important for people who suffer from low bone density or osteoporosis. Thus, stability and balance exercises are important, and it keeps one's muscles together in a way that improves one's stability.

These exercises include movement-based activities like tai-chi or simple activities like standing on one leg to improve balance and stability.

The bones in the human body are constantly renewing themselves- that is, when one bone is made, the old one breaks down. At younger ages, the body makes new bones faster than it breaks down, and the bone mass in one's body increases.

However, after the early 20s, this process slows down as most individuals reach the peak bone mass by the time they turn 30. As individuals age, they lose bone mass faster than creation. Osteoporosis is a common condition that develops with low bone density.

Risks of Developing Osteoporosis

One can develop osteoporosis depending partly on how much bone mass he or she had attained when he or she was young. The other important factors include-

• Gender: There are greater chances of women developing this osteoporosis than men.
• Race: Individuals belonging to white or Asian descent too are at greater risk of having low bone density.
• Family History: If any individual's family member, be it his/her parent or sibling, has osteoporosis, one has the chance of developing it.
• Body Frame Size: Individuals who have smaller body frames can develop low bone density as they do not have enough bone mass to draw from as they age

Hormone Levels

People who have too much or too little of certain hormones can also develop osteoporosis in their bodies. Examples include:

• Sex Hormones: One of the biggest risk factors for osteoporosis in women is the drop in estrogen levels throughout menopause. Treatments for breast cancer that lower estrogen levels in women and prostate cancer treatments that lower testosterone levels in men are likely to speed up bone loss.
• Thyroid Problems: This disease can also be caused due to too much thyroid hormone. If one's thyroid is overactive or if one takes too much thyroid hormone medication to treat an underactive thyroid.

Dietary Factors

Osteoporosis is more likely to occur in people who have:

• Eating Disorders: If one has malnutrition or severely restricts food intake, one can become underweight. This might lead to the weakening of bones in both men and women.
• Low Calcium Intake: Individuals who do not consume an adequate amount of calcium in their lifetime have high chances of developing osteoporosis. Low calcium intake can be the root cause of early bone loss, diminish bone density and increase the risk of fractures.
• Gastrointestinal Surgery: Gastrointestinal surgeries are done to reduce one’s gastrointestinal disorders. These surgeries end up reducing the size of one’s stomach and reduces the amount of surface area available to absorb calcium and other vital nutrients.

Steroids and Other Medications

Individuals associated with long-term use of injected or oral corticosteroid medications like cortisone and prednisone should know that it interferes with the bone re-building process and increases the chances of developing osteoporosis.

Other medications which might have an effect include-

• Gastric reflux
• Cancer
• Seizures
• Transplant rejection

Medical Conditions

A few other medical conditions which might result in the development of osteoporosis in an individual are -

• Kidney or liver disease
• Celiac disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Cancer
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Multiple myeloma

Lifestyle Choices

Not only medications or dietary changes are responsible for causing osteoporosis, but one can also develop it due to lifestyle habits. The details are discussed below.

• Excessive Alcohol Consumption: Individuals who consume more than two alcoholic drinks per day have increased chances of developing low bone density.
• Sedentary Lifestyle: Individuals who spend a lot of time sitting have high chances of developing osteoporosis. Thus, doing any weight-bearing exercise such as walking, jumping, dancing, running, and weightlifting can be helpful.
• Tobacco Use: Although the exact role of tobacco in causing osteoporosis is unclear, it has been seen to contribute to the development of weaker bones.

Along with underlying diseases and medications, while an individual ages, the bones in his or her body tend to become fragile and weak. This condition is also known as osteoporosis. Often, it occurs in men at an older age, and for women, it occurs after menopause.

The low bone density causing disease poses a serious risk, and people might end up breaking bones, thereby limiting mobility and increasing dependence. One might also tend to lose muscles as he or she ages, and this condition is known as sarcopenia. Individuals who develop osteoporosis and sarcopenia have more tendency to fall and break a bone.

Similar to the effect on muscles, exercise works on bones in the same way- it strengthens them. The benefits of bone strengthening exercises enable individuals to build strong bones in their younger ages and maintaining the strong bones in their older ages.

Bones tend to change over time in response to what forces are placed upon them because it is a living tissue. When one exercises regularly, one's bone adapts by becoming denser and building more bone. This bone improvement requires a good amount of vitamin D and calcium.

Another crucial factor for which exercise strengthens bones is that it improves coordination and balance. This is very important for older people as it helps in preventing sudden falls and the resulting broken bones.

Although there is a list of exercises for bones to strengthen them, one should also remember to avoid a few. These exercises will not strengthen the bones but instead can cause more damage to the bones.

Bending and Twisting: Exercises which involve one twisting his/her waist or bending forward at the waist can increase the risk of compression fractures in the spine of individuals with osteoporosis. These activities include doing sit-ups or touching the toes. A few other activities which require one to forcefully twist his/her waist are bowling, tennis, some yoga poses and golf.

High-Impact Exercises: These are exercises which have jerky and rapid movements in general. For example, running, jogging, and jumping are examples of this type of exercise, and it can lead to serious fractures in weakened bones. However, if one is generally strong and fit despite having osteoporosis, one can try doing these exercises after consulting with a doctor.

Skiing: One must also avoid high fall risk sports such as skiing because these can cause major fractures in individuals with osteoporosis.

Regular exercise is a part of individuals who have osteoporosis. However, one must see a doctor before he or she starts a new exercise program. here are the precautions you should take before conducting this workout routine.

• You can seek advice from exercise professionals and physiotherapists for expert guidance.
• Further, you should also remember to start yourexercise program at a low level and gradually progress.
• Individuals suffering from low bone density should not involve themselves in exercises that are too vigorous. It can increase the chances of fractures.
• You can also consult a dietician or doctor to know about the ways to increase the amount of vitamin D, calcium and other important nutrients in the diet.
• Doctors might also suggest you to use supplements. You should also avoid excessive alcohol and smoking as these are bad for bone health.

That is all for the bone strengthening exercises, and hopefully, it will help the ones suffering from low bone density or osteoporosis. Taking care of bones is as necessary as caring for muscles and other body parts. If individuals can incorporate proper exercise, food habits and a lifestyle from an early age, they have the chance of preventing osteoporosis for as long as possible.