Have you just discovered that you have osteopenia? Guest blogger Dr. Sara Mahoney gives tips for getting started with exercise that can benefit your bone strength.

​Generally speaking, osteopenia means that your bones are less dense than they should be, and you are at a higher risk for developing a more serious condition called osteoporosis. As we age, we stop creating as much new bone and over time our bones become less dense, increasing our risk for fractures and pain. Women who have gone through menopause are particularly at risk for this because of the change in estrogen levels, as estrogen helps to regulate bone density. Osteopenia can also be caused by inadequate calorie intake, metabolic or hormonal disorders, or other medical treatments like chemotherapy. If you have been diagnosed with osteopenia, make sure you talk with your health care provider about the potential causes, and discuss whether it is safe for you to exercise. 

​Exercise has two primary benefits; it can help you build new bone, and it can increase muscle strength and balance so you reduce your risk of falling (and potentially having a fracture). With weight-bearing exercise such as jogging or jumping, you are actually placing a load on the bone that stimulates new growth in response, much in the same way lifting weights would cause you to increase muscle size. 

The good news is that all different kinds of exercise can be beneficial! If you are starting an exercise program for the first time, keep in mind that any exercise is better than none and small steps over time can have a big impact later. Speaking of impact, the first type of exercise to consider is one that loads the bone. This means that your hips and spine are holding your body up against gravity and you are adding a repeated load. Examples of weight bearing exercise would be walking, jogging, and jumping based exercise like a jump rope. The faster and/or higher you go, the more load you add to your bones, so jogging loads more than walking. When adding this type of activity, start where you are and increase slowly in time and intensity. So, if you are not walking at all right now, start with 10-15 minutes, several times a week. Each week, add 5 minutes to your walk until you are walking 30-45 minutes per day. If you currently walk regularly, trying slowly increasing the intensity by adding small jogs into your routine. You might try 3 minute walk, 1 minute jog for 30 minutes. As you feel comfortable, increase the number of jogging minutes and decrease the walking until you can jog for 30 minutes at a time. After that, experiment a bit and have fun! Add some 10-20 second sprints into your routine or utilize a jump rope for 30 seconds at a time during your jog. 

​The second component to think about is muscle strength and balance. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults engage in resistance training at least twice per week, using exercises that target large muscle groups and lift 1-2 sets of at least 8-12 reps. If you don’t have access to a gym with weights, or prefer not to use them, resistance bands or even household items like cans and milk jugs will suffice. There are no magic exercises when it comes to resistance training, but think about trying to get both the front and back of your body, as well as the top and bottom.  With balance exercises, you can start with simply standing on one foot (and for first timers, make sure you have a rail, wall or a friend to grab onto) for 30 sec at a time. Work your way up to 3-4 sets of 30 sec on each foot, and when that becomes easy, close your eyes (again, for first timers, make sure you have support).
No matter where you are now, you can start to take steps towards a more active life and using exercise to support your bones. ​

 In a study from the Mayo Clinic, an exercise that strengthened back muscles helped women in their 60s protect spinal bone density even years after they stopped doing the exercise daily. 

Here's a video with a series of back-strengthening exercises you may want to try. (These are not the same as in the study, but are designed to strengthen different areas of the back. As far as I know, they have not been tested for effectiveness in preventing osteoporosis, they are just examples of back exercises.)