Bone Health

I recently had someone ask “what is the best way to take care of my bones, the doctor told me I need to keep them strong?”  Depending on who you talk too the answers may vary.

However, two important things remain the same – adequate calcium and vitamin D in the diet and a combination of impact and resistance training in the exercise routine.

Impact training refers to exercises like running and jumping - impact is important, in fact, the higher the impact the better.  Jumping rope, team sports such as basketball, kick boxing and other high impact aerobic classes are all good examples of impact training.

Swimming, biking, and elliptical machines are not good choices for maintaining bone density.

Weight training will also work it places and external load on the bones.  Most experts agree that for weight training to impact bone density to loads need to be relatively high.

With all that being said, most people want strong bones to help prevent broken bones as they age, but one thing that can help prevent breaks even more is adequate balance.

If your balance is poor start off just trying to balance on one foot before you move on.  Try it with eyes open and closed and with shoes on and off.  Once you can do that you can move on to the Single Leg Toe Touch.

Stay Motivated,

Karen

Related posts:

1. What Have You Done For Your Health Today?