You can prevent bone loss with regular exercise, such as walking. If you have osteoporosis or fragile bones, regular brisk walking can help to keep your bones strong and reduce the risk of a fracture in the future.
Taking brisk walks for 30 minutes per day 3 or more times per week (volume>16) is recommended to prevent bone loss.
Osteoporosis is not reversible, but medication, a nutrient-dense diet, and weight bearing exercise can help prevent further bone loss and rebuild bones.
Weight-bearing aerobic activities
Examples include walking, dancing, low-impact aerobics, elliptical training machines, stair climbing and gardening. These types of exercise work directly on the bones in your legs, hips and lower spine to slow mineral loss.
Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, jogging, and climbing stairs, can help you build strong bones and slow bone loss. Avoid substance abuse.
Exercise
Just 30 minutes of exercise each day can help strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis. Weight-bearing exercises, such as yoga, tai chi, and even walking, help the body resist gravity and stimulate bone cells to grow. Strength-training builds muscles which also increases bone strength.
The short answer is no, osteoporosis cannot be completely reversed and is not considered curable, but there are a number of health and lifestyle adjustments you can make to improve bone loss. Your provider may also prescribe you medications to help rebuild and slow down bone loss.
Bone loss begins to occur at an approximate rate of 0.25% a year and is variable depending on many genetic and environmental factors. This may be considered the second stage towards osteopenia and/or osteoporosis. It is important to understand that this is a perfectly normal part of the aging process.
Bone-strengthening program
An exercise program for osteoporosis should include four components: Weight-bearing exercises force your body to work against gravity, which helps to strengthen bones. Examples include walking, climbing stairs, playing tennis, and dancing.
Romosozumab (Evenity).
This is the newest bone-building medication to treat osteoporosis. It is given as an injection every month at your doctor's office and is limited to one year of treatment.
The best non-drug treatments for slowing/stopping progress of osteoporosis are: – Good diet with adequate protein (huge issue for older women, who tend to consume too little). – Adequate levels of Calcium, Magnesiun, Vitamin K, Vitamin D3 & Zinc.
Weight-bearing and resistance exercises are the best for your bones. Weight-bearing exercises force you to work against gravity. They include walking, hiking, jogging, climbing stairs, playing tennis, and dancing. Resistance exercises – such as lifting weights – can also strengthen bones.
The World Health Organization says a sedentary lifestyle even contributes to osteoporosis. Sitting at a desk all day, typing, and peering at a computer screen also have negative effects on joint health.
Severe (established) osteoporosis is defined as having a bone density that is more than 2.5 SD below the young adult mean with one or more past fractures due to osteoporosis.
But "you can live with osteoporosis for a long, long time and never have complications such as fractures -- if you take certain precautions," says Felicia Cosman, MD, osteoporosis expert and medical director of the clinical research center at Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, N.Y.
Men who began treatment at age 50 had a life expectancy of 18.2 years, while the life expectancy for a man beginning treatment at 75 was an average of 7.5 years. For women, the figure was 26.4 years for those beginning treatment at 50 and 13.5 years for those beginning treatment at 75.
Osteoporosis is more likely to occur in people who have: Low calcium intake. A lifelong lack of calcium plays a role in the development of osteoporosis. Low calcium intake contributes to diminished bone density, early bone loss and an increased risk of fractures.
Getting too much vitamin D, especially above 4,000 IU per day, can be dangerous. If you already have osteoporosis, keep in mind that vitamin D and calcium alone are not enough to treat the disease. You'll need to take them along with other medications your doctor prescribes.
Preventing osteoporosis should begin in childhood, but no matter what your age, it's never too late to take steps to strengthen your bones.
Using the WHO definition of osteoporosis, the prevalence in the US of osteoporosis in Caucasian postmenopausal women based on the lowest bone mass at any site is estimated to be 14% of women aged 50-59 years, 22% of women aged 60-69 years, 39% women aged 70-79 years, and 70% women aged 80 years or greater(ref 3).
The in vitro effects of caffeine on cells involved in bone metabolism suggest that caffeine intake may promote osteoporosis, and some but not all clinical studies support a modest adverse caffeine impact.