Bone density – what does it mean? Why do I need to know about it? What can I do about it?

What does it mean?

Our skeleton is designed to be the rigid structure that holds all our soft bits together and enables us to bend our elbows, kick a ball and live our lives the way we are accustomed. It is the muscle on our bones that create movement, without a strong bone to be attached to, they are fairly useless.

For the majority of people, your skeleton will be developing and growing up until the age of 25. After this time bone density will only refresh itself by breaking down old bits and replacing them with new stronger bits.

The healthier your bones the stronger they will be, our bone health is affected by:

- Nutrition (calcium)

- Exposure to sunlight (vitamin D)

- Hormonal secretions (testosterone and estrogen)

- Physical exercise (weight bearing)

Why do I need to know about it?

Maybe this question should have been who needs to know about it, but I would argue we all need to know about it. #selfcare

There are number of diseases that can affect our bones, the main three we are all likely to have heard of are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis. With each of these, the development/progression of the disease can be slowed by regular weight bearing exercise.

The most impressive impact on a disease can be seen in osteoporosis where it is medically proven that there is an 83% reduction in development of the disease.

You can double check this figure and find others on the NHS website https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/

What can I do about it?

Doctors will say “include weight bearing exercises to your daily routine” which I think sounds vague and does not help me understand what I need to do. It is arguable that walking and jogging are both weight bearing exercises.

For me, as a fitness professional, weight bearing exercise means lifting heavy objects and putting them down again, walking and jogging can only do so much with regard to building muscle and preserving bone density. The real power against the development of bone disease, such as those mentioned above, is stimulating muscle growth and weight training is absolutely better at this than walking or running.

I must caveat this by saying that walking and cycling do wonders for you heart, lung and mental health so they shouldn’t be written off or ignored.

What would a weight training workout look like?

There are many programs written by many PTs and they are all great. Both Women’s Health and Men’s Health frequently share workout ideas as well as many YouTube videos and countless Instagram profiles. If you love to learn from reading and just having a go yourself then by all means crack on and get developing your weightlifting skills.

Great posture and form are vital for keeping yourself injury free in this discipline and this is where a personal trainer can be worth their weight in gold.

Picking the right one can be tricky but any reputable ones will be more than happy to give you 30mins of their so that you can both understand what you need and discuss a way forward that would work for you both.

If you do want to give it a go yourself, here is an effective, entry level, whole body exercise for developing muscle and stimulating bone growth.

Squats whilst holding/carrying something heavy enough for you to manage but not so heavy you can’t keep neutral posture through your spine

Reverse lunges (stepping back rather than forward) whilst holding/carrying something heavy enough for you to manage but not so heavy you can’t keep neutral posture through your spine

Single arm row using a heavy weight, ideally a dumbbell or kettlebell but a heavy bag with a short handle can also do the trick. Again the aim here is that the weight should feel heavy but not so heavy that you lose the neutral spine position

Chest press ideally using dumbbells, these can be performed laying on the ground or on a sturdy table

IYTs this only requires a small weight and the priority here is full range of movement (ROM). The name of this exercise refers to the shapes you make with you arms, you may remember the old YMCA dance move, it’s similar.

Kneeling (or seated) shoulder press this involves pushing a weight above your head with both hands whilst maintaining a neutral spine.

In a gym there would be a range of kettlebell and/or dumbbell sizes to choose from but exercising from home can allow us to be a bit more creative. 2-3 sets of each exercise and 8-12 reps within each set.

This is based on assuming you do not have access to a gym but that you might have, or be prepared to buy, some equipment for home use.

These exercises are very broadly explained here in this article, there is a wealth of knowledge out there regarding technique and posture in pictures, videos, tutorials, etc.

This work out gives you a starter for 10, especially if you have never considered weight training before.

In summary, the health of our bones is important to our ability to move around and get from one place to another, we should take care of our bone health throughout our lives.

If you would like to be in touch with me directly on this topic with questions or maybe you would like me to be your fitness professional, you can email me racheltask@gmail.com