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Osteopenia, Osteoporosis May 2017 News
May 23, 2017

May 2017 Osteopenia/Osteoporosis news

May, five months into the new year. How is your bone building program going? . I really want to you regrow strong bones. But I know I can not do this for you. Rebuilding bone is something we need to do for ourselves. And we need to persevere. Bone is SLOW to build. Rebuilding bone is not like recovering from the flu or even pneumonia. With the flu or pneumonia you take your medication for a few days or weeks and then you are 'back to normal' and life goes on as before. .

With Osteopenia or Osteoporosis, Life does not go on as before. You need permanent life changes even if you choose the route of pharmaceutical drugs. Why? Because you will not be on drugs forever (They all have long term side effects and I do not know of any physician who would prescribe 'forever'.) Unless you address the CAUSES of your bone loss, you will be right back in the same place of weakening, crumbling bones in a few years. So please start to make some permanent changes. #1. Top of the list is to start ALKALINE eating. Why? So so your body does not need to remove calcium from your bones to balance out the acidic environment your meals creat. And when you are eating ALKALINE diet, you can take satisfaction that you are also making it difficult for cancer to grow in your body. (Research has shown that cancer NEEDS and acidic environment. Keeping your body Alkaline is cancer protective. .

#2 Get lifting, pushing, pulling stuff....weights, machines, wheelbarrows full of dirt, rocks. Just do it =- - with good posture. . #3.Take up Tai Chi. Dance with abandon. Remember that if you choose to do yoga, be sure your teacher knows how to teach persons with Osteopenia or Osteoporosis so you do not fracture a bone. .

#4.Always, always BEND FROM THE HIPS even when doing housework or picking up something you dropped. (If you can not bend far enough from your hips either ask someone else to retrieve what you dropped for you.... or squat or kneel. Do anything rather than allow one vertebra put undue pressure on the front edge of the vertebra below it. This becomes more and more important as you get older. . The next time you go shopping or out to a game. Take a few minutes to notice how many people stand with their heads thrust forward and their backs rounded....a recipe for spinal crush fractures. AND the thing is that over time you can change your posture. You CAN adopt a new ways of standing, walking, sitting, ways that reduce our risk of 'crush fractures' as we age. # 5 Stand with your chest up and out. No slumping so one vertebra does not put extra pressure on the front edge of the vertebra below it. Pull your chin in so your head remains balanced on the top of your spinal column. .

Finally, if you drive take a few minutes to check your body posture when driving. Do you hunch over the wheel? Hold your head forward like a turtle? Round your lower spine? Ask a friend to check your posture. Most modern cars offer easy adjustment. Some of us have found that a 'personally adapted' wedge of foam encourages good posture and prevents our hunching over the wheel.

I know these things may seem small, so simple. Many of us have been trained to think only of BIG changes (drugs, expensive machinery, major life changes). But if we want to avoid fractures, if we want to build stronger bones, there are dozens of 'small things' that can put us on the way. . Finally, here is a simple exercise on YOUTURBE that you can do at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdmAvUtrovs .

Thanks for reading. And if you have questions, you can send them to be by 'reply'. I will use your questions for the content of the NEXT newsletter (rather than answer them individually) since I found that that many readers have same or similar questions.

Kate

Kate Lindemann, Ph.d. prof emerita Mount Saint Mary College Newburgh, New York

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