Offsetting Osteoporosis & Why Strength Training Matters…
An essential predictor of morbidity is bone health. Osteoporosis is the single most important cause of morbidity. If you are over the age of 65, and you fall and break your hip, your 1 year morbidity is about 30-40% (ie. if you fall after the age of 65, there is a 30-40% chance you die in 1 year). I know this information is stark, but the truth is…
BONES MATTER…
A DEXA scan is the gold standard way to measure bone mineral density. It will also tell you a body fat percentage estimate, visceral fat, and fat free mass index/appendicular mass index.
Estrogen is the single most important hormone in regulating bone mineral density. Having a sense of where you stack up for your age and your sex, and if you are off pace, is essential.
The critical window at which you are malleable in creating as much hard bone as possible is under the age of 25 years old. From age 20-50 years old you plateau. At 50 years old, men start to decline slowly, and women start to decline, but it is precipitous due to the estrogen decline after menopause.
HOW HIGH YOUR BONE MINERAL DENSITY GETS UNTIL AGE 25 SETS YOUR BAR FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE…
So, for all of you sub 25 year olds, you are at a critical moment in life to reach your highest potential bone mass.
Strength training (ideally, power lifting — because of shear forces on the tendon and bone, which activate osteoblasts and allow for bone growth) is the single most important and best thing you can do to increase bone mineral density (not running. not yoga. not swimming.).
However, DO NOT make the mistake in thinking that if you’ve never strength trained before the age of 25 years old that all is lost….
Strength training is ESSENTIAL for the rest of life because you are trying to prevent the fall off. Strength training means; moving against very heavy loads 2-3 times per week. This will look different depending on experience, but the efforts should be very fatiguing.
The research on this topic definitive. The goal is to never get to the point where we have to do strength training for the first time, which is why strength training is a massive focus in the Vitality Wellness rehabilitation and lifestyle protocol.
If you have never strength trained before, I would highly suggest ramping up your strategy for how to offset osteoporosis, or at a minimum, of how to prevent further decay.
It is never too late to start, but you should never stop.
Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
