10 exercise forms suitable for women with osteoporosis

Earlier osteoporosis was seen more in post-menopausal women or those who cross 45 years of age, but due to unhealthy diet, stressful and sedentary lifestyle and the trend of dieting to get the much covetted size-zero a lot of young women even in their mid thirties are now suffering from osteoporosis. Reduction in bone mass, which is the main feature of osteoporosis makes the bone less-able to withstand physical stress and makes it highly susceptible to fractures. To counter this, you should not only take natural and artificial, calcium and vitamin supplements, but you should also undertake weight-bearing exercises or sports as they will improve the calcium influx in your bones, and in turn enable bone developement.

Weight Training: Anything that you do on your feet that works your bones and muscles against gravity is a weight-bearing exercise and weight training (usually done with dumbbells and therabands) is the most important because it works your spine, upper limbs as well as lower limbs.

Yoga: Among the different asanas in yoga, surya namaskar is a body-weight-bearing exercise; besides improving your balance and flexibility it also helps your muscles in toning and strengthening.

Aerobics: Although high intensity and high impact exercise, jumping, step routines and other aspects of it require you to bear your body weight, making it a good option for those who do not have a high degree of osteoporosis and want to prevent it.

Badminton, Tennis, Jogging and Hiking: These weight-bearing exercises will improve your bone strength as well as the aerobic conditioning of your body, which is important for better cardiovascular strength, breathing pattern, blood supply and other factors that impact your well being.

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Cycling, Swimming and Walking: Although these are not weight-bearing exercises or sports, they are good supplementary exercises, which will help in maintaining the aerobic conditioning of the body besides keeping the muscles strong.

How To Plan Your Workout Regime

For good results you should do weight-bearing exercises three to four times a week and supplementary exercises twice a week, 60 minutes at a stretch.

Even though there are no sports that women should not do, you should check with your physician before you start. It is vital to your individual bone strength and the acceptance of your bone to the form of exercise you choose. Various tests are available for the same and post menopause it is recommended that women go for tests once in two years. Older women, those who have gone through menopause and those who have undergone hysterectomy (surgical removal of uterus) should avoid high impact workouts and go for walking, yoga and weight training. For complete treatment and even prevention you should go in for posture correction because osteoporosis is seen more in the spine and if you're not carefull with age your body will increasingly stoop, resulting in further complications as the internal organs get compressed.