4 tips for improving osteoporosis

Posted on Saturday July 23rd, 2011 by Stephanie

Osteoporosis is the progressive loss of bone mass. It is the degenerative process that bones suffer when we get older.

 

4 consejos para mejorar tu osteoporosis

1- If you suffer from osteoporosis, you should know that physical exercise is the key to improving it.

2- If you want stronger bones, we recommend a program of gentle exercises.

3- Focus on exercises that involve the displacement of your body weight, such as walking, jogging, speed walking, jumping rope or dancing, since these will benefit you quite a lot.

4- Swimming, bicycling and practicing yoga are healthy activities, but they don\’t involve displacing your body weight.

 

Consult the training programs for osteoporosis at Sportize.me

If you want more information on exercises you can do to improve your osteoporosis, consult the exercise programs we recommend on Sportize.me

To start, you can look for the goal “Do exercises that help my osteoporosis” in your Private Area on the website and do the exercises we will send on a weekly basis to your mobile phone or e-mail address.

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  • Nicole A. Tucker

    Dis-eases are connected to an enzyme depletion in the stomach. I would recommend addressing the health of the stomach with the proper enzymes, and appropriate diet changes, such as drinking distilled water everyday, eliminating dairy, and most fats.

  • Mariana T. Novo

    Buenas tardes ! Muy interesantes las recomendaciones. Si bien el calcio de la dieta no se absorbe por siempre, siendo necesario el aporte durante la infancia principalmente, una opción para suplementarlo en las personas con intolerancia al calcio farmacológico, sería agregar leche en polvo a las preparaciones o infusiones con leche, de esa manera aumentamos la concentración de calcio sin aumentar volumen. Saludos !

  • Luz Lozano

    Hola, cuando somos jóvenes debemos hacer ejercicio al máximo, porque depende de ésta actividad el que suframos de osteoporosis, cuando ya tenemos la enfermedad lo mejor que se puede hacer es una dieta rica en calcio y vitamina D, complementada con factores de transferencia. Gracias

  • Nicole A. Tucker

    Most people’s body are unable to properly process enzymes from food. They now require the assistance of enzymes in powdered form (via a capsule, for example) in order for it to be digested easier. My office offers enzyme testing, in which muscle points are tested, via palpation, to determine the enzyme status and health of the organ. Some of the regions that are tested include, stomach, liver, pancreas, bowel, small/large intestines. If there are enzyme challenges in any of those regions, the client will then take the appropriate enzyme, along with altering diet, response to stress, and other holistic suggestions. Someone with osteoporosis may experience compromised enzymes in the stomach, and one or all of the elimination organs, which may lead to an inability to absorb nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, copper, vitamins A, K, E and C; nutrients that support healthy bone/muscle health. If the body is filled with toxicity, there is then a challenge with absorption. Enzymes can help to assist the body into balance, by way of re-supplying the enzymes within the body, which then optimizes the health of the body’s mechanics, such as proper absorption of nutrients, increased circulation, healthy elimination. The addition of distilled water, which is water free of chemicals, helps to hydrate, detoxify, enliven the body’s muscles, organs, bones. Enzyme Therapy is only one modality to assist osteoporosis. There are countless others that can be of support, such as aromatherapy, herbal tinctures, reflexology, yoga, spiritual/emotional counseling.

    • Cathy Steidinger

      It seems all four tips have to do with the same suggestion of excercise. I agree with Nicole most all disease are connected to proper nutrition.and the ability for absorbtion(via enzyme existance). I don’t agree distilled water is the right way to go, but it is on the right track of drinking clean purified water. Ridding our drinking water of harmful chemicals added to our immediate sources to protect us from even more harmful toxins, should the water not be treated.
      Research shows, however, that enzymes, for proper digestion, are mainly killed by warmed food. The recommended food intake for the average adult, in this day and age does not allow for reasonable quantities required to meet our nutritional needs. Eating plenty of foods that do not need to be cooked in order to eat it, gives you a better chance of retaining already existing enzymes. Caffeine is also harmful to our digestive enzymes.
      In the way of addressing Osteoporosis is, plenty of Vitamin C and Vit D to absorb C.
      Vitamin C can be found in many fruits and dark green vegetables. Vitamin D is formed in our bodies when we get plenty of sunshine, which is probably the biggest reason the
      “shifting your body weight” excercises gives better results for Osteoporosis treatment because they are performed mainly in natural sunlight.
      Those excercises are mainly held outside

      • Cathy Steidinger

        Excellent explanation of the importance of enzymes. I support replenishing enzymes through supplementation. You can maintain the existing enzymes by not destroying them further with cooked food, hot beverages, water with PH of 7, no carbonated or alcoholic beverages.

  • Diego Sommariva

    Squats improve bone density, therefore they help avoid osteoporosis.

  • Vanessa Pekerman

    Puedo recomendar como prevención que conozcan el programa Cada Paso Cuenta, http://www.cadapasocuenta.com donde intentamos erradicar el sedentarismo de forma divertida y concientizadora, para reducir el riesgo de las enfermedades no transmisibles

  • Valeria Lozano

    no solo la dieta rica en Calcio y vit D, tambien pobre en Na ya q ayuda a la eliminacion del calcio via renal!!! saludos

  • http://unidonthave717.com Deonna Levitan

    Good website! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I’m wondering how I could be notified whenever a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your RSS which must do the trick! Have a great day! “A rut is a grave with the ends knocked out.” by Laurence J. Peter.

  • http://pingdopid.net Chong Pringle

    Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch as I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! “Creativity comes from zeal to do something, generally it is to make some money.” by B. J. Gupta.

  • Karl Nelson

    Sara Meeks will be presenting a webinar entitled: “Osteoporosis, There IS Something You Can Do About It”, on Sept. 15th at 8 PM Eastern. Go to http://www.ptseminars.net for more info.

  • Ekaterina

    More tips:

    1. In consultation with your physician exclude or minimise effect of underlying cause of osteoporosis, i.e. thyroid problems, use of corticosteroids, excess endogenous glucocorticoids, malabsorption, male/ female hypogonadism etc.
    2. Observe recommended daily intake of Calcium and Vitamin D.
    3. If diagnosed with osteoporosis and prescribed medication, comply with treatment.

    • Larry

      Concerning Ekaterina’s point #3:

      For those with osteoporosis, the approved (prescription) treatments clearly reduce the number of fractures far better than does simply assuring good calcium and vit. D nutrition or any other nutritional program. None are a cure (except possibly teriparatide) and none are more effective than preventing osteoporosis from developing in the first place, but all ARE effective. For those with less severe bone loss and with no fracture history (sometimes called osteopenia), treatment is usually not indicated (but is often prescribed inappropriately, in my experience).

      Unfortunately, many studies have shown that fewer than 50% of patients (women or men) persist in taking the prescribed treatment as long as 12 months. Another study just confirmed this trend, with only 34% persisting (Eur J Endocrinol. 2012 Jan 18. [Epub ahead of print] Persistence at 1 Year of Oral Anti-osteoporotic Drugs: a Prospective Study in a Comprehensive Health Insurance Database.).

      Those who don’t persist will not get the long term benefit of fracture protection. They drop out because of a) cost, b) inconvenience, c) lack of education about the nature of the benefit (How do you know you DIDN’T get a fracture?), and d) side effects.

      There are several types of treatment, so one can usually be found that will minimize side effects (bisphosphonates – 4 or 5 to choose from, depending of geography), calcitonin, selective estrogen receptor modifiers, estradiol itself, denusomab, strontium, and, for very severe ‘cases’ – teriparatide followed by one of the above.

      It is now being recognized more widely that the bisphosphonates are different from each other in terms of persistence of their effect on bone (review in this months Journal of Bone and Mineral Research) and their likelihood of causing jaw necrosis. Concerning jaw necrosis as a long term side effect of bisphosphonates, recent NEJM case reports confirm my clinical observation that teriparatide can lead to rapid healing of this rare side effect – so FEAR of jaw necrosis is no reason to avoid the anti-resorptive treatments.

  • Jeanmarie Bechtle

    I always ask whether my patient has well water and if they take their bisphosphonate with the well water as our water is heavily mineralized and this impacts the absorption of the bisphosphonate.

  • liba

    Ekaterina, I liked points 1 and 2, but when it gets to the medication, I wonder about complying with unknown long term effects (let us say 10 to 30 years) of these prescribed medications.. To me, it does not make sense for one to be part of the problems associated with using things that may not be of benefit to the body. Research has now shown the importance of other things than prescribed medication for osteoporosis. Could you elaborate on “comply with treatment?” Have you had a drip or taken any of the medications yourself? Thanks for sharing that with us.

  • Carla

    For more information about treatment and research go to http://www.osteoporosestichting.nl and click on Twitter archief or follow us at Twitter @Osteoporose_NL

  • Carla

    don’t forget to exercise: if you don’t use it you lose it!!!

  • Larry

    Concerning Stephanie´s four tips. Can’t argue with any of them, except to say that the other crucial thing is to assure good vitamin D nutrition (a vitamin D-25 hydroxy value of at least 20 ng/ml for good bone health and even higher for other effects of vitamin D, maybe 30-40 ng/ml).

    “Body weight displacement” is an interesting concept, since activities that do this will in fact put some degree of strain into the bone. Bones are stiff, but not rigid. Dr. Mike Heggeness here in Houston has shown that the human femur under normal stresses will ‘bend’ enough to move the end of the bone 2 mm from its original position.

    Like many tissues bone becomes stronger when it is placed under stress. Dr. Clint Ruben showed many years ago that turkey wing bones subjected to 2000 to 3000 microstrain (a measure of how much the shape of the bone changes under stress) only three or four times a day showed a maximum increase in strength in a very few weeks. Giving the bone 30 or 40 stress cycles a day did not improve the response, and giving it hundreds of cycles a day only led to stress fractures. Bed rest studies years ago showed that preventing bone loss from bed rest requires only a few cycles of standing or walking per day. In a clinical study of bone gain in children, it was found that simply jumping off an 18 inch step 20 times a day would increase bone mass in school children, relative to children doing normal recess activities daily.

    So, to slow bone loss, one doesn’t need to become a marathoner or gymnast. One needs to tailor the activity to the person’s agility, strength, joint health, and enjoyment. The amount of time on hand is the least important factor, since one needs to do a few ‘reps’ of the activity daily. An 80 year old doesn’t need to jump off an 18 inch step and risk a fall, but bouncing on one’s heels ten times while holding onto a door frame for support is probably safe (in the absence of severe bone loss).

    Much more research is needed in order to develop multiple alternative safe and effective ‘exercises’ for people with osteoporosis, but the above principles will probably apply to all.

    Again, prevention of osteoporosis is clearly more effective than treating it, since bone structure is degraded in osteoporosis and is hard to restore with treatment. Weight displacing exercise is similarly more effective in preventing bone loss than in restoring lost bone

    • liba

      Right Larry. I also make Turkey soup….and then most of the guests chew on those bones and many even end up eating them they are so soft.

      Yesterday my GP told me that new research (not published studies yet???) are saying that getting more of our Calcium from food is important. Taking large doses of CAL/MAG/Vit D and Zinc…(3 pills of 500mg cal with 250mg mag) plus our zinc and Vit D of course, is not as good as getting the things from food, which, is, of course what we learned at the University of Saskatchewan, when I attended from 1961-71.
      However, if one is lactose intolerant…then this is an issue. Also, milk products gives me much more mucus. Comment?

      Larry, or others, WHAT are the problems associated with TOO much calcium from pills, and not from food? WHY do some people who have little milk in their diets not have Osteoporosis? (orientals.)

  • Darlene

    Many orientals have great vitamin K in their diet through bok choy and natto. Combined with tofu they receive substantial intake of calcium, magnesium and vitamin K. Throw in an hour of tai chi in the morning and they are good to go. But they had better watch out because North American fast food outlets and coffee shops are popping up everywhere

  • Larry

    @ liba. It is important to get enough calcium. Enough to keep the serum ionized calcium in the middle of the reference range and the parathyroid hormone level in the second quartile of the reference range. This should require about 800 mg a day for premenopausal or estrogen-replete postmenopausal women and about 1200 mg a day for un-replaced postmenopausal women. The basic diet (before dairy) has about 400 mg. Add two or three servings of dairy, and you’re home free. If lactose intolerant, yogurt or latase-treated milk will do fine. If you otherwise don’t tolerate dairy, take a 300 mg calcium tablet with two or three meals. Taken with meals, the calcium will complex dietary oxalate so that it won’t be absorbed and can’t contribute to kidney stone formation. The absorption of calcium taken with food is NOT dependent on gastric acid secretion, so, those with no stomach acid (or on an acid blocker) will still absorb the calcium well enough (even if slightly less that those with stomach acid who take it without food).

    Persons who habitually consume more that 1500 mg of calcium supplements have been found in multiple observational studies to develop more cardiovascular disease (stroke, coronary attacks) and more kidney stones. Keeping each “dose” of calcium down to about 300 mg will lessen the rise in ionized calcium afterward and should minimize these adverse effects. The old advice about taking all the calcium at one sitting at bedtime is no longer supported by the evidence.

    Can’t answer the question about “oriental” except to point out that they do develop osteoporosis after adopting our “western” diet. The incidence of hip fracture in Japan is said to be fairly low, but many of these people routinely sit on the floor, cross-legged, putting a lot of stress on the femoral neck, which may serve to strengthen these region of the femur. I’m sure the points about vit K and calcium taken with their other foods is correct, but no one knows if that is the whole story. Phytoestrogens in the tufu might also contribute, but this is controversial.

    • liba

      What would you say to taking estrogen in a pill, then, Larry. Do you believe that if women take hormones they will delay osteoporosis or prevent it? What about the use of topical hormones, as not to take in foreign kinds of hormones orally? OR what about drinking lots of soy milk and eating more tofu? When you say “Phytoestrogens in the tofu might also contribute but this is controversial”, could you explain that please? What is the controversy, exactly?

      • Larry

        The normal estrogen is estradiol. This can be taken in a tablet, but doing so increases blood inflammatory and clotting proteins that are synthesized in the liver, since the estradiol after absorption goes first to the liver. Using estradiol by a transdermal route does NOT cause these undesirable changes in blood chemistry and has been shown in numerous observational studies NOT to increase the number of cardiovascular events. Thus, the safest way is transdermal (patch, creme or spray). It is also more expensive than oral.

        One risk of taking estradiol is that it might increase breast cancer incidence. In the Women’s Health Initiative, oral conjugated estrogen did NOT increase the number of breast cancers out as far as eight years. This arm of the study enrolled women who did not need to be considered for progestins (because of prior hysterectomy). This arm of the study was stopped at that point because of an increase in cardiovascular events (due to the oral route of administration).

        The second risk of estradiol is an increase in number of endometrial cancer (lining of the uterus). This increase in risk is prevented by the concomitant use of a progestin, either continuously or intermittently. We have, unfortunately, little comparative data about other side effects of various progestins. Medroxyprogesterone, used in the estrogen-progestin arm of the Womens Health Initiative, DID cause an increase in breast cancer at five years, and in my opinion should be off the market. We now have available micronized native progesterone (the same molecule made by the ovary) and do not need to consider using medroxyprogesterone. Medroxyprogesterone has much greater relative affinity for breast progestin receptors than does native progesterone, so the latter should be safer, but we don’t have a good clinical study to test that supposition.

        I favor the intermittent use of micronized progesterone as the method of preventing endometrial cancer. This should theoretically give the least risk of breast cancer with an adequate protection against endometrial cancer.

        I’ll answer the tofu question next.

        • liba

          Thanks Larry. Transdermal estradiol….it is available in Canada, and WHAT is it? Do I need a Dr.’s perscription? Calcitonin or residronate….what are these things? The nutrition I do, and the weight bearing exercises…more than enough…
          Nitroglycerine…..hmmmmmmm is this in a trial stage now on animals?
          Please explain the concept of “small molecule messenger.”
          You are making my brain work, and I love you for that!
          Sunny down there?
          Sunny here in Ottawa, but we are -12.
          Great for skiing and skating.
          LiBa

        • liba

          Free radical loads??
          Please elaborate.
          This is most useful for me Larry, Thanks.

  • Larry Mallette

    Addendum to above: Why not take more calcium? Won’t it help cure osteoporosis? ANSWER: No it will not cure osteoporosis, or even slow it down very much, when the bone loss is due to lack of estrogen, immobilization, or chronic inflammation.

    The bone building cells must have enough calcium (and phosphate and magnesium) to work with, but throwing more calcium at these cells will not increase their bone building activity or lengthen their lifespan. The excess calcium also causes the above mentioned problems. Estrogen and vitamin D make them happy, of course.

    • liba

      Thanks Larry

  • Larry Mallette

    In one clinical study of a phytoestrogen extract, there was some protection against bone loss, but in others there has not been protection. So we don’t have a basis for saying whether phytoestrogens are good or not. I do not eat tofu or drink soy products, because an observational study published over 10 years ago showed that men who ate more tofu over a 10 year period showed poorer memory and more brain atrophy at the end of the study. Their wives also showed the same. Although the dietary records were not kept for the wives, it was assumed that on average their diet would be similar to their husbands. We don’t know whether the brain damage was due to the phytoestrogens or damaging lectins that are know to be in soybeans and not inactivated by heating, or due to the LACK or some other nutrient that was replaced by the tofu (maybe fish, for example).

  • Larry

    One additional comment about announced results of the Women’s Health Initiative study. The investigators concluded that the women in the study did not have any symptomatic improvement from the estrogen – i.e. no improvement in “quality of life.”

    Well, guess what? To be enrolled in the study at the beginning, the women has to have NO symptoms of estrogen deficiency. The study was to be “double blind” – neither the patient nor the treating doctor were to know until the study was over whether a given patient was on estrogen or placebo. If the women were having hot flashes at enrollment, it would be immediately obvious to everyone which treatment that had drawn in the randomization. So, if the enrollees had no symptoms of estrogen deficiency, how could they be expected to show any improvement?? Self fulfilling prophecy…..

    We know that some women sail through menopause with no problems, while some suffer terribly. I’ve seen too many women whose quality of life was horrible and whose symptoms were totally reversed by estradiol to accept this “study result” as a reason not to be willing to prescribe hormone replacement for symptomatic women.

  • Larry Mallette

    Your first question was whether taking estrogen prevents osteoporosis or delays it…. Estrogen PREVENTS osteoporosis, unless there is another cause present (celiac disease or other inflammatory disease, plasma cell disorder, parathyroid problem, etc). There is some normal loss of bone with the passage of years, unrelated to estrogen levels, but the rate is so slow that it would cause very few women to become osteoporotic before their last 5-10 years of life.

    Of course if a woman is on estrogen for ten years and then stops, the decline in bone density and quality occurs very rapidly, compared with that seen from normal menopause. But now you have a abrupt drop in estrogen from normal to very low levels, versus the slower decline from normal menopause.

    The best plan for peri-menopauals women with osteopenia is to use transdermal estradiol for 5 to 10 years, then slowly taper the dose while going onto another preventive, such as calcitonin or low dose residronate, for a few years, keeping good nutrition and a decent level of weight bearing exercise. By the time another 5-10 years have gone by, we’ll probably have found another way to maintain bone (perhaps nitroglycerine or another small molecule messenger).

  • liba bender

    My Dr. says 16% of all women will have hot flashes into their 70ies. Thankfully I was not one of those, but found also that Vit E (400 IU) and Oil of Primrose (3 X 1000 mgs) each day helped. ALso Oil of Primrose helps with thinning hair…it really does.

  • Larry

    Transdermal estradiol is a prescription medication in the USA. Don’t know whether it is available in Canada, but I would be surprised if not. There are several brands here, including patches and gels. The nitroglycerine patch has been studied in animals, since some/most of the effects of estradiol on bone were found 5-6 years ago to be mediated by locally generated nitrous oxide. A small human pilot study recently showed encouraging results. It could be prescribed now, “off label,” but I doubt if many Internists or Family Practice folks know about this. Calcitonin is the hormone secreted by the C-cells in the thyroid gland. It functions to channel dietary calcium into bone and out through the kidneys, minimizing the rise in serum calcium after an oral “dose.” Salmon calcitonin is used as a medication for osteoporosis and Paget disease of bone. It has gone generic now. Miacalcin was/is the brand here in the USA. It is used as either a nasal spray or sub-cutaneous injection. Residronate is the chemical/generic name of Actonel.

    Sunny? yes, but pretty cold today – high of 57F! Minus 12 is hard to fathom…..

  • Larry Mallette

    I recommend that one take a vitamin E preparation that contains both gamma and alpha tocopherols. These are two of the most important vitamin Es and both seem to have independent benefits. The vitamin E in foods has both. If one takes capsules of only alpha tocopherol, the level of gamma goes DOWN, an undesirable effect. At doses up to about 400 units a day, taking alpha alone is probably ok, but above that use of the “mixed tocopherol” preparations is probably better.

    Evening primrose oil may also help joints (by keeping the joint cartilage healthier). Wonder if that’s why my bald spot is fairly late developing and not very big yet….. I like to keep doses of “oils” (fish oil, evening primrose oil, flax seed oil) down to a total of about 1000 mg a day, because a high level of intake of polyunsaturated fats can probably increase free radical load.

  • Darlene

    I would challenge the advice “take recommended levels of vitamin D”. I believe the RDI is currently 600IU. Osteoporosis Canada is recommending 800-2,000IU for women over 50. I was taking 2,000IU daily and blood tests showed that I had fallen below the recommended range by mid-winter. I currently take 5,000IU in the winter (in Canada) and nothing during the summer because I get sufficient vitamin D from the sun.

  • Larry Mallette

    Absolutely agree that 600 units of vitamin D is not enough for most people, especially those who wear sunblock, are in the North, are over age 65 yr, or stay indoors most of the time. It is unusual for 2000 units of cholecalciferol (vitamin D-3) to fail to generate good circulating vitamin D-25 hydroxy values. If you instead were taking ergocalciferol (vitamin D-2), the assay for the metabolite might not have detected it well. Actually, I haven’t found ergocaliferol on the US vitamin shelves in several years, but it is the form that is still in the prescription 50,000 unit vitamin D here in the States. If you truly require 6000 units of cholecalciferol to reach a value of 30-40 ng/mL, it is likely that you have some sort of intestinal malabsorption problem.

    As an aside, bone health is one thing, but cardiovascular health is equally or more important. Having good vitamin D nutrition makes it hard to build up enough fragile plaque to experience plaque rupture (the triggering event for an acute coronary or thrombotic stroke). Nutritional followup studies like the Nurses Health Study and others have shown that those with good D levels have a low risk of stroke and MI. Another study reported that the majority of people entering the ER with an acute coronary had insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels. It has been shown that vitamin D down-regulates the number of macrophage cell-wall receptors for oxidized LDL protein. As a result, macrophages that are “policing” an area of the blood vessel wall that has been damaged or irritated are less able to take up LDL particle and become the “foam cells” that we have known for decades are the early step in plaque formation. Taking vitamin D may be far more effective (and without toxicity) than the statins that have been so widely used (and that are also quite effective, at least in secondary prevention). Of course, those with known problems (past stroke or MI) should do BOTH.

  • Karl Nelson

    Sara Meeks is presenting a webinar entitled “Focus on Bracing with the Spinomed Spinal Orthosis for the Osteoporotic Patient” on 3/29 at 8PM. For info or to preview slides, go to http://www.ptseminars.net

  • Larry Jankowski

    The end stage of osteoporosis is fracture. Almost all fractures occur from falls or poor body mechanics. So if you have osteoporosis, the best thing you can do is not to fall, and learn to lift objects correctly. No drugs, no long term side effects. Instant reduction in fracture risk. Nursing home patients who wear hip protectors cut their risk of hip fracture instantly by 50% (that is intent to treat, as compliance in wearing them was quite low). It is more like 80-90% in those who were 100% compliant.