A warm greeting from the rainy Hudson Vally to all of you - both new and old subscribers.

This month there are 3 items

1. Vertebroplasty market research

2. Two reports about nutrition; one about the use of trampolines.

3. A fall at the library - and you?

1. Vertebroplasty-market-research. Last month, I I was contacted by Picks Research Solutions, owned by Dr. David Pick. They are looking for people who have had vertebroplasty procedure in the last 12 months for a 10 - 15 min phone interview about their experience. They will pay participants $50 for their time.

I checked the firm AND their privacy policies. It looks good to me. I spoke with the office manager and said I would pass their 'call for participants along' to readers of the newsletter. If you or someone you know has had this procedure, AND you want more information or want to participate in their survey, there is a page on the web site about the study. It has a form so you can contact the person in charge of this particular study. (Using the form means that your email address can NOT be seen by spammers.)

If you are interested or know someone who might be interested, I suggest you fill out the form asap so you get on the list while they are still taking names. If you change your mind later, you can always tell them that...but once they reach their quota of contacts, they will not accept any more names.

The page is at https://www.osteopenia3.com/Vertebroplasty-market-research.html (I will repeat that url at the end of the newsletter.)

2. Nutrition, trampolines and bone health. Tidbits from research articles:

a. July 2009 Tohoku Journal of Exp Med.(Japan) published a study showing that among young thin women those WITHOUT daily intake of green and yellow vegetables had almost 5-fold risk of low bone mass, compared to the subjects having daily intake of the vegetables. Do talk with your daughters, grand daughters, nieces etc.

b. Sometimes people ask about vegan diet and bone mass. This Spring Osteoporosis International published a study of Vietnamese Buddhist nuns that showed "although vegans have much lower intakes of dietary calcium and protein than omnivores, veganism does not have adverse effect on bone mineral density and does not alter body composition." (Remember that Buddhist meditation also makes for low stress, low cortisol production and that helps bones.)

c. Trampolines. Every so often someone writes to ask about using trampolines to improve bone density. This month I researched the subject. Although I found over 129 articles, they were all about injuries sustained on trampolines - nothing about improved bone density. I shall continue to look but if you are using a trampoline, do be careful. Back, neck, shoulder, leg injuries appear to be more common than I thought. (And I was thinking of buying one...hmmmm.)

3. Here is a true life story. Last Friday I went to the library. As I approached, I could see a woman with 2 small bags of books and a 4 pointed cane about to open the heavy glass door. She pushed the door and got it 1/3 open but then it was so heavy that it began to push back on her. She tried to step out of the way so she would not be knocked off balance. Her 4 pointed cane got caught in a ridge on floor mat. The cane went out from under her and she fell back against the wall and slid to the floor.

By then I reached the door, opened it and waited for her eyes to clear. I asked her not to move. I could see that her right leg was twisted in a strange position. She said 'something is not right' as she pointed to her hip. Soon library personnel arrived, an ambulance was called....

Since I was no longer needed I went into the library. Staff were saying that she is 91, comes frequently, is a very independent person. She used to come in with her husband who was disabled. She would put him in a chair and go find books for the two of them. Then they would check out and leave together.

Seems he died a few years ago and she stopped coming for awhile. But she started coming again. Staff members were really concerned about her.

I was too. If her hip is broken, she may die from other complications within the year. I wondered if ANYONE ever showed her any balance and co-ordination exercises or explained how important they are.

The reason why so many people fall and break hips in their 80's and 90's is because we lose about 1% of our balance every year after we reach our 40's. At 91 she would have lost about 50% of her balance - almost like a toddler in natural balance. No one would expect a toddler to open a heavy door with 2 bags of books!

And the hard thing is that WE KNOW that just a couple minutes a day of balance exercises restores balance to levels from earlier years. Research shows that even those in Nursing homes can improve their balance with a bit of practice.

I know I have said this before but please, please, please do 4 - 6 minutes of balance exercises every day....every day. Please go to the web site now. Type BALANCE into the search box. Start now ---- unless of course you do Tai Chi or some other exercise that emphasizes balance.

I do think of you in my daily activities - even at the library.

Oh, and Great News. Two more people have reported good dexa scan reports since last month....diet, exercise, supplements - including the AlgaeCal and Strontium that is on the web site. Such good news...

Be well, be happy and please stand on one foot every day....

Kate

URLs from this NEWSLETTER

https://www.osteopenia3.com/Vertebroplasty-market-research.html