More Thoughts on Healthy Bones

June 1, 2012 in Exercise, Health, Nutrition by Mary Ireland

I like Dr. Grandma's natural approach to building and/or maintaining bones that she discussed in her latest blog post. It might be nice if we lived on the Good Ship Lollipop and we could eat whatever we want and just lounge around all day and pop a handful of medicine and supplements for perfect health. However as more studies come out about the adverse effect of medications and supplements (such as Watching out for the Flim-Flam Vitamin Salesman), it is becoming apparent that we aren't there yet. My guess is that we never will be.

We all need to realize that Big Pharma can't be relied upon to keep us healthy. As Dr. Grandma's blog post suggests, the "cure" can be much worse than the "bite." This is especially true when a person is taking a number of medications. According to a report by the U.S. General Accounting Office published in 1996, older adults take an average of 4.5 prescription medications plus two non-prescription medications or supplements. That is a lot! Not only are the side effects of each medication a concern, drug interactions -- including interactions with supplements -- can cause problems. The cited article refers to another study that found 17 percent of hospitalizations of people over 65 years old were due to medication reactions.

Eating calcium rich foods and getting sufficient movement to stimulate bone formation seem to be the least expensive, least harmful and perhaps the most effective way to make sure that you have strong bones. Because of this, I was interesting in an article in the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine regarding increasing the bone mass density by jumping -- a high impact activity. Not only do you not need any special equipment, you can do this inside in case of inclement weather. You don't have to do very many repetitions either -- only 10 and you can rest 30 seconds between each one if you want. You do however need to do the 10 jumps five days a week.

The study looked at the effect two weeks of 10 jumps, five days a week had on bone serum markers. The results indicated a decrease in the markers related to bone resorption -- the breaking down of the bone. Although the study participants were non-athletic, college-age (19 to 24 years old) women, the report cites two studies in which significant increases in femoral neck bone mass density (BMD) after 5 months of jump training by premenopausal women. The decrease in bone resorption and increase in femoral neck BMD seems a small price to pay for jumping 50 times in a week. You do have to jump high enough that you come down with force of three times the amount of your body weight, admittedly a measurement difficult to obtain. There are benefits other than BMD increase such as increasing strength in your quadriceps muscles, improving balance and increasing the amount of your movement for the day.

This exercise may not be your cup of tea, but I suggest that you try it and if jumping doesn't work for you try something else. Weight training is a good way to increase BMD as is jogging or high-impact aerobics. Trying out different ways of exercising may just allow you to experience the "Goldilocks Effect." This is apparently how babies learn to make sense of the world. They come into the world not really knowing anything about the world -- a situation most adults would find overwhelming and stressful. The most significant "skills" they have is that they are open to all experiences; they are not stressed out and, according to the article, "seek out situations with just the right amount of surprise or complexity." So before reaching for the calcium supplements and bisphosphonates exercise your options on more natural ways to keep your bones strong.