10 Best Exercises to Help You Keep Your Bones Healthy
Certain types of activity can overstress bones, especially in those who already have osteoporosis, which raises their risk of fractures. These high-impact workouts consist of movements like golf and situps that require you to bend forward or twist backward or forward violently. Seniors who exercise frequently can keep their bones strong. Exercises like dancing, brisk walking, and racquet sports like ping pong, squash, and tennis are great for strengthening bones.
1. Strolling
One of the best workouts for maintaining strong bones is vigorous walking. In addition to strengthening the bones in the legs and feet, it also helps guard against fractures and falls and improves balance, flexibility, and strength all at once. Weight-bearing activities like walking and climbing stairs help to sustain your body weight and develop your bones (Porter, 2021). Hiking, dancing, and playing tennis are all fantastic forms of exercise.
2. Diving
Non-weight bearing exercise refers to forms of aerobic exercise that do not offer the bone-supporting weight that bones require for normal operation, such as swimming and cycling. Weight-bearing workouts include activities like walking, running, climbing stairs, and tennis, but not everyone can perform them well.
3. Asana
Yoga can help with balance, coordination, and strength, which can reduce the risk of falls and fractures. It can also strengthen the muscles and bones in the hips, spine, and wrists, which are particularly vulnerable to osteoporotic fractures. Similar to other weight-bearing workouts, yoga puts the body through stressors that promote bone formation without harming joints or cartilage.
4. Exercise for Strength
For people with poor to moderate mobility function, weight-bearing activities like walking and jogging are good ways to build bone strength. Exercises that defy gravity, such as weighted racket swinging or jogging on a tennis court, are also great ways to strengthen bones. The secret is to remain steady while periodically varying your regimen.
5. Milk-Based Goods
Weight-bearing exercises strengthen bones and can help prevent osteoporosis (2). Weight-bearing exercises are any physical activity that involves muscles to overcome opposition, such as gravity. Dairy products include calcium as well as other essential elements like phosphorus and protein that are necessary for healthy bones. Dairy products have been shown in several randomised controlled trials to promote bone mass accretion and reduce the incidence of hip fracture in children, adolescents, and adults (1). Select genuine, wholesome dairy products to help local dairy farmers and their families while providing your body with calcium, potassium, protein, and vitamin D!
6.Fish
You can get the vital calcium your body needs from fish. Its high phosphorus content also helps to build bones. By reducing bone loss, exercise preserves bone density. Discuss an exercise regimen that best suits your needs with your doctor. Steer clear of high-impact activities that overstretch your bones, like climbing, jogging, and jumping rope, as these can raise your risk of osteoporosis fractures.
7. Leafy Greens
Walking, rebounding, and yoga are examples of weight-bearing exercises that you may incorporate into your regular routine to help prevent age-related muscle loss and gradually strengthen your bones. This objective is further supported by including foods high in calcium and vitamin D, such as fortified orange juice, milk, seafood, and leafy greens. Your body will extract calcium from your bones if it doesn't get enough of it, which will cause osteopenia and eventually osteoporosis.
8. Sous vide
Similar to chicken soup in terms of appeal, bone broth has recently grown in favour. Bone broth is a great way to maintain strong and flexible joints since it is high in collagen, which is known to support bone and joint health. Bone broth also has many other health benefits. Glycine, an amino acid found in bone broth, has been shown in studies to support restful sleep patterns. Exercises involving weight bearing have the ability to increase bone density. Walking, dancing, and running are a few examples of weight-bearing movements that apply stress to the skeleton, like jumping.
9. Exercises for Toning Muscles
Weight-bearing activities such as jogging slow down bone loss and strengthen your bones by making them sustain a greater portion of your body weight. When starting high-impact aerobic activities, it is advisable to consult a physician if you have a history of fractures or are at risk for osteoporosis. Pushups are a well-known exercise for the chest and triceps that can be done anywhere with just your bodyweight as resistance.
10. Exercise Strength
By promoting weight management and constructing lean mass, strength training, also known as resistance exercise, helps you maintain your weight while strengthening your muscles and bones and lowering your risk of osteoporosis. Resistance training also aids in the prevention of falls. The recommendation from experts is to perform different repetitions with either bodyweight or free weights, progressively increasing the weight and reps over time. Before beginning any workout, be sure to stretch, warm up for five to ten minutes (walking is OK), and warm down.
