The Best Exercises for Strong Bones

 With advancing age the risk of developing osteoporosis rises. This risk may be increased by having lower than normal peak bone mass, and subsequent greater than normal bone loss. The chances of this happening can be lessened by doing exercises that involve weight bearing. This is because when you do weight bearing exercises your bones adapt to the impact exerted by this extra weight and the pull of your muscles by building more cells, and thus become denser and stronger. The type of exercises that are most beneficial vary depending on age.

Children

For children, bone strengthening exercises can start before they can even walk. Crawling and active play begin the gaining of muscle mass. After they have learnt to walk unaided, activities such as climbing, walking and running, and jumping all contribute to the development of strong bones.

Teenagers and Young Adults

As children reach adolescence an active lifestyle is crucial to increasing bone mass. It is around this age that the most can be done to achieve a high peak bone mass in their early twenties. All sorts of competitive sports, from soccer to tennis to martial arts are beneficial, as are more individual exercises. Skipping, body weight exercises and high-energy activities such as aerobics and dance can strengthen muscles, while putting weight on the bones, encouraging them to increase cell production. In order to build up strong bones children should aim to undertake 60 minutes of exercise a day.

 

Adults

From your mid-thirties natural bone loss begins to occur. In order to reduce the rate of this, muscle-strengthening activities should be done at least twice a week. This can include doing some of the activities that young adults do, but also less exercise-focussed pursuits, such as brisk walking, stair climbing, carrying groceries, gardening and moderate-resistance weightlifting. These activities are less aimed at building bone mass as they are at maintaining muscle strength. Adults need less frequent exercise than children, but should aim to do at least 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a week, on top of muscle-focussed exercises.

Elderly

For elder individuals, or those at high risk of osteoporosis and fragile bones, it is advised to avoid particularly high impact exercises. However, maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle is beneficial. Going for a walk or doing necessary housework are both good ways of keeping active throughout the day. Swimming can improve stamina and joint flexibility in a low-weight environment, while tai chi is recommended as it is low impact but can improve balance and posture while strengthening muscles in the legs.

Until a bone is broken, there are no symptoms of osteoporosis. As the likelihood of developing it increases as you age the best preventative method is to build up strong bones at a young age and to sustain beneficial exercises throughout life.