Your body is a complex network of bones and muscles, and they both work together to provide a healthy and reliable structure. Bones provide the strength and structure that muscles need to move. Without a strong skeletal structure, the muscles would be unable to generate the necessary force to contract and lift objects.
Therefore, it’s important to maintain a healthy bone density so that the musculoskeletal system can remain in top form. Bone density is important because it affects the risk for osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to become thin, brittle, and break easily. Most often, this happens in older people (after 50), but it can also affect younger people, particularly smokers and thin individuals with small bones.
Women are the gender at greatest risk for osteoporosis because they lose bone mass due to menopause, hormonal changes, and other factors. Although less common, males can get osteoporosis. Men who smoke, have a small frame, drink excessive alcohol, or take certain medications, like corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs, are at greater risk.
Osteoporosis can lead to problems such as:
- Stress fractures (small cracks in bones)
- Bending or breaking of bones (fractures)
- Changes in posture due to bone loss
- Debility and a higher risk of death from falls
But how do you know if your bones are too thin and fragile? Bone density is a measurement of how strong your bones are. It’s an indicator of whether you have osteoporosis, which is a weakening of skeletal bones. It can also tell you whether you have low bone density that doesn’t reach the level of osteoporosis, called osteopenia.
Bone density tests are simple and painless and easily performed by a technician in a medical facility. In most cases, technicians use an X-ray machine called a dual-energy absorptiometry DEXA scan. However, there are other ways to measure bone density but this is the one most medical facilities use and recommend.
Once You Lose Bone Density, Is It Gone for Good?
You build most of the bone density you’ll have for a lifetime before age 20. If you’re under age 20, you’re still building bone and it’s important to consume enough calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and other nutrients that support bone health.
With age, you lose bone mass, and this process accelerates after menopause in women due to hormonal changes. Bone density is determined by genetics, but lifestyle choices, such as diet and exercise habits, smoking and drinking alcohol regularly, lack of physical activity, and the amount of calcium and vitamin D you consume impact your risk too.
Conventional wisdom says you can only build bone density into early adulthood. After that, you only maintain what you have. So, you want to build as much bone as possible during adolescence. However, research suggests both men and women can modestly increase bone density even as middle-aged and older adults.
Even the Elderly Can Build Bone Density
A study carried out in a retirement community suggests that older adults can increase bone density. The participants, all over 70, participated in a weight-bearing exercise program. The results? The participants had greater bone density at the end of the program than at the beginning. Other small studies show similar findings. Even older adults can increase bone density through exercise.
How does exercise boost bone growth? When you pull on bones with force, as by lifting weights, it stimulates cells called osteoblasts to lay down new bone. Exercise increases bone density in two ways: by increasing the rate at which new bone forms and by reducing the rate of bone breakdown (known as resorption). Both are important for achieving optimal skeletal density and strength.
Weight-Bearing Exercise Builds Bone
Weight-bearing exercises are important for bone density because they place enough pressure on your bones to stimulate bone growth. Weight-bearing exercises include running, jumping rope, skiing, and hiking.
If you can’t do high-impact exercise, strength training helps build and preserve bone density. Studies show that strength training, using challenging weights, can boost bone density by up to 3%. It’ll also help you build and prevent muscle loss that goes along with aging. Some of the best strength-training exercises for increasing bone density include deadlifts, squats, bench presses, overhead presses, and push-ups. Using a heavier weight, one where you can only complete around 6 repetitions without fatiguing your muscles optimizes bone density.
Although there’s evidence you can build bone using lighter weights and high reps, the evidence is stronger for lifting heavier weights. If you can do both strength training and high-impact exercise, that will maximize bone growth, but strength training is the best alternative for boosting bone density if high-impact exercise hurts your joints.
Conclusion
Research suggests even the elderly can boost bone density through exercise. Plus, exercise has cardiovascular benefits, improves balance, and builds muscle to reduce frailty. The best low-impact bone-building exercises are compound movements, those that work multiple muscle groups simultaneously. For example, squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and push-ups but working your muscles against resistance in a way that fatigues them (even with lighter weights) should still slow down further bone loss. So now you know that strength training isn’t just for muscle – it’s for bones too!
References:
- The 150 Most-Asked Questions about Osteoporosis. Ruth S. Jacobowitz. Hearst Books.
- “Easy ways to build better bones – Harvard Health.” 13 Oct. 2016, health.harvard.edu/womens-health/easy-ways-to-build-better-bones.
- “How to build and maintain bone density – Oregon Exercise Therapy.” 11 Mar. 2014, http://www.oregonexercisetherapy.com/blog/how-to-build-and-maintain-bone-density.
- “Strength training increases regional bone mineral density ….” pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8335581/.
- Mosti MP, Carlsen T, Aas E, Hoff J, Stunes AK, Syversen U. Maximal strength training improves bone mineral density and neuromuscular performance in young adult women. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Oct;28(10):2935-45. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000493. PMID: 24736773.
- “How Does Strength Training Increase Bone Density?.” 22 Oct. 2018, poliquinstore.com/articles/how-does-strength-training-increase-bone-density/.
- “Osteoporosis in Men | NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases ….” bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/osteoporosis/men.
- “Osteoporosis Risk Factors at UC San Diego Health.” health.ucsd.edu/specialties/endocrinology/osteoporosis/Pages/osteoporosis-risk-factors.aspx.
- “Osteoporosis Complications: Symptoms, Causes, and Risks – Healthline.” 30 Jul. 2019, healthline.com/health/osteoporosis-complications.
- “Exercises for Bone Strength – Harvard Health.” https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/exercises-for-bone-strength.
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