Are you building or risking breaking bones?
I got this message from a gorgeous lady I know this week I felt it was too important a message not to share.....
"I recently had a Dexa scan and have osteopenia, borderline osteoporosis on my spine. I need to apparently start resistance training and strength training to try reverse. I’m allergic, hate the thoughts of training not sure I could ever enjoy it"
As a mum of 3 young kids in her early 40's, this can be a daunting prognosis to get and it obviously took a lot to reach out.
In case you are unfamiliar, osteopenia is age-associated loss of bone mass and density that can eventually progress to osteoporosis, a condition that causes brittle bones that fracture more easily.
A healthy bone looks a bit like tight honeycomb. An osteoporotic bone will have much larger holes and spaces within that honeycomb structure, because it's breaking down faster than it's rebuilding.
From birth to around our mid- to late twenties, our bone mineral density increases, typically peaking at 25-30 years.
It then plateaus (stays the same) for many years.
Then starting at approx 44 years of age, women start losing (on average) 0.4% of their bone mineral density each year.
However, between the ages of 50 - 54 (around menopause) women experience a sharper rate of decline, losing 4.4% of their bone density over 5 years 😲
Scarily enough, the biggest decrease in bone density happens late in perimenopause (about a year before reaching menopause)
It doesn't make for fun reading does it? 🙈
But here is what I want you to focus on 👇
When it comes to osteopenia and osteoporosis, for years experts thought women could only slow the inevitable decline in bone density after menopause.....
HOWEVER, research now shows that it is actually possible to INCREASE bone density in postmenopausal women!
This is INCREDIBLE news!! 💪💪
But what does this all mean for YOU?!
It means that now, more than ever, your body NEEDS to strength train to maintain or INCREASE your bone density
Prevention is crucial and it's NEVER too early (or too late) to support your bone health!
🦴 Get scanned - osteopenia and osteoporosis are often referred to as "silent" diseases as bone density loss happens without any other symptoms.
🏋️♀️ Lift weights regularly and focus on progressively overloading the weights that you are using
🥘 Focusing on adding more nutrient dense food in to your daily and weekly intake.
🏃♀️ Incorporate high-impact exercises when actively working on preventing osteoporosis.
So what did I say to this gorgeous lady -
"Thank you for reaching out, I know that was tough. I understand how daunting it might be to get this diagnosis and be told that you need to do something that feels really alien right now. But lets break it down and find out where would be a good place for you to start that you can feel comfortable with and let's just take it one step at a time..."
Because how do you eat an elephant.....
One bite at a time! 🐘
To find out how you can begin to build better bones from home, check out what the Beyond Fitness At-Home Hub can offer you