Category Archives: Osteoporosis

Cycling and bone health

This post is presented by West 4th Physio associate and cyclist/triathlete Jen Macpherson Cycling has really taken hold in Vancouver over the past decade. The health benefits are clearly established by research and include:  improved general fitness decreased risk of cardiovascular disease decreased risk of colon cancer decreased obesity The low impact nature of cycling also makes it an appropriate component of rehabilitation; such as, following surgery for a knee ligament repair or joint replacement. Sounds perfect so could there be a downside? Unfortunately, because cycling is low impact or primarily … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Cycling, Cycling injuries and prevention, Osteoporosis, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Why do seniors fall?

I have written in previous posts about the life changing consequences a fall can have for a senior. http://www.west4thphysio.com/archives/1240 Falling remains by far the number one cause of injury among seniors and accounts for almost all (90%) of hip fractures and more than half the head injuries. A recent study done at Simon Fraser University here in Vancouver and recently published in the Lancet has looked at how and why seniors tend to fall. Cameras in long term care facilities provided the data. Analysis showed that 30% were due to … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Men's Health, Osteoporosis, Senior's Health, Women's Health | Leave a comment

Keeping your balance

With autumn upon us light is fading and the leaves are coming down. A good sense of balance and recovery abilities can help make sure you don’t hit the ground like the leaves. This season is called fall for a reason. Balance is a crucial ability, that tends to decline with age. Every year, thousands of seniors are admitted to the hospital for broken hips, most often due to falling. Frequently a hip fracture will lead to disability and a loss of independence. To avoid becoming part of these statistics, … Read the rest of this post »

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Children and exercise – Part 2

Following on from the last post I’ve had some questions regarding whether children who weight train hurt themselves. It’s a good news story, with no greater incidence of injury. In fact, active kids involved in sports such as soccer, hockey, skiing or skateboarding sustain many more injuries than for any children who have been involved in weight training. On the other side are children who get no exercise at all. The decline in physical activity in kids is a real concern to all health professionals. Since 1981, there’s been a tripling … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Children's Health, Osteoporosis | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Preventing falls

This is the time of year when seniors are most at risk of falls. Icy steps and sidewalks, slippery wet leaves, cold weather slowing reaction time and often poor light hiding treacherous outdoor conditions. So far we’ve been lucky in 2011, at least in the lower mainland, with relatively warm, albeit wet, weather and not to much of the dreaded ice about. But seniors 65 and older are the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population and the estimate is that around 1 in 3 will have at least 1 … Read the rest of this post »

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Osteoporosis guidelines

Late in 2010 I came across an interesting article in the Canadian Medical Journal (CMA) in which new guidelines were outlined to help physicians deal with managing and preventing osteoporosis. According to the study’s lead author, Professor Alexandra Papaioannu, the goal is early identification of those most likely to develop full blown osteoporosis later in life. The approach recommended in the guidelines is quite different to that currently taken. Instead of relying on bone mineral density (BMD) testing  -read more about BMD and testing here- http://www.west4thphysio.com/archives/530 , and then using … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Low back, Osteoporosis, Senior's Health, Women's Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Osteoporosis in men

The  statistics are in and they aren’t pretty. The CMA (Canadian Medical Association) has updated it’s guidelines for helping physicians deal with osteoporosis and I’ll outline some of the changes of focus in both this and the next post. Today; the prevalence of osteoporosis in men. The stats say one in eight men over the age of 50 has the disease. Physicians and other health professionals know the numbers but apparently the general public doesn’t. There is still, it seems, a prevalent train of thought that osteoporosis is a bone … Read the rest of this post »

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Exercise for osteoporosis

While reading and researching for the other posts in the Osteoporosis category,  http://www.west4thphysio.com/category/osteoporosis/ , I came across an interesting article outlining the results of a strength training program from the University of Arizona. I am often asked in my clinical work exactly which exercises are able to reliably build bone mass. The difficulty for researchers, in pinning down exactly which exercises are best at building bone density, has been a variability in results. Multiple studies have shown that aerobics, weight bearing, and resistance exercises can all maintain or increase BMD in … Read the rest of this post »

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Strength training can make you smarter

Recent research from the University of British Columbia (UBC) showed some interesting results in the field of strength training and cognitive benefits for seniors. There has been a lot of previous research that shows the positive effects that aerobic, cardiovascular exercise ( think walking, swimming, dancing ) plays in keeping people alert and mentally sharp into their senior years. Strength training however has not been studied from this point of view. Most strength studies concerning seniors have focused on osteoporosis and the overall effects of muscular strength improvements. In the UBC study, 155 … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Osteoporosis, Senior's Health | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Osteoporosis treatment

 If diet and exercise alone were enough to prevent or even reverse the changes wrought by osteoporosis, management would be fairly straight forward.  Unfortunately, that is not the case. So what are the medical implications for those diagnosed as osteoporotic? The main dangers come with falling, but even lesser forces can result in low trauma fractures which are both debilitating for the patient and costly for the health system. There are several different families of medications that can help with osteoporosis. Some work by slowing the destructive reabsorbption of bone; some help promote new bone development, some … Read the rest of this post »

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Osteoporosis and exercise

This is a topic that seems simple on the surface but has some areas for real care and concern. From an earlier post http://www.west4thphysio.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=530 , you’ll remember that bones are always in transition. Building and breaking down and rebuilding again in response to the loading that is placed on them. This process of turning physical load into tissue (bone) change goes by the wonderful name of mechanotransduction. Good bone building load is gained from exercise that involves: weight bearing, that is exercise done while upright so that the force of gravity acts … Read the rest of this post »

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Osteoporosis – Diet

At the end of the last post http://www.west4thphysio.com/uncategorized/osteoporosis/ I mentioned that we would look at what is available through exercise and diet to enable you to help prevent osteoporosis and osteopenia. They are both fairly large topics so today we’ll look at diet. Because bones are alive and able to respond to mechanical stress and strain, they can be strengthened. Of course they will only be able to rebuild if the right building materials are both present and readily able to be used.  Not enough calcium and vitamin D  and too much caffeine, salt and alcohol … Read the rest of this post »

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