Less Walking = Less Bone

Do you ever notice how often you sit a day?  You sit in a car, sit at work, sit on the couch, if you're a white collar worker there's a good chance you'll sit the majority of your life.  Its no surprise that the elderly are replacing hips and knees.

I don't know if this is common knowledge or not but gauging how people are going about preventing and treating bone loss it seems to be less than obvious.  Bone is a living tissue not an inert substance you use to function.  It is constantly building and breaking itself down.  It utelizes minerals and vitamins to build a matrix that is resilient and somewhat flexible.  Often, those that suffer from bone loss attack this chronic problem through diet but this is only have of what should be done 

Just consuming the essential vitamins and minerals that bones use to grow will not be enough to reduce bone loss.  In order to strengthen bone you must put stress on them--natural stress.  Bone will lay done more dense tissue in areas of high stress and take away from areas of low stress in order to be efficient and utilize all sustenance consumed.  If you don't use your hip or knees, guess what--you will lose them.

I suggest to my patients to start walking.  Most of the time they say that this is too high impact.  Well, that's what you need to grow bone.  Biking, swimming, and the use of an eliptical machine will not put the necessary stress on bone tissue.  These particular exercises are called "open chain" exercises and don't employ the usual kinetic mechanism that we were designed to use.  While these might be great for rehab of a joint or soft tissue injury initially they don't benefit bone and joint health long term.

So hang up your keys sometime and take a trip, or stand up at work not just to use the restroom and walk around.  There really isn't much excuse, walk.