Weight-bearing Exercises a Necessity

Are you ready to exercise?

Most people know that cardio exercise has a positive influence on our physical fitness. However, many people are not as aware of the importance of weight-bearing exercises in building and maintaining healthy bones.

At Homberg Chiropractic and Wellness, after a full evaluation of your physical fitness, we can design a weight-bearing exercise program for you. Depending on your fitness level we might suggest Tai Chi, yoga, brisk walking, hiking or lifting light weights.

With aging, bones can become very weak and fragile — a condition called osteoporosis. It often occurs in women after menopause, and in men in older age. This bone-thinning disease puts people at a greater risk for broken bones, which can limit mobility and independence.

Weight bearing exercise is important for building strong bones throughout our lives, and it is essential for maintaining bone strength when we are older. Exercise works on bones much like it works on muscles — by making them stronger. Because bone is a living tissue, it changes in response to the forces placed on it. When you perform weight-bearing exercise regularly, your bone adapts by building more cells and becoming denser.

It's important to note that all forms of exercise are not equal when it comes to bone health. Weight-bearing exercise provides the stress load that bones need to stimulate mineral uptake. While this occurs in both children and adults, weight-bearing exercise is particularly important early in life as the most significant gains in bone mass are made during puberty. When you’re young, bone resorption is balanced and in some cases exceeded by new bone tissue generation. But later in life, bone tissue losses accelerate and outpace the creation of new bone. That acceleration is especially pronounced among people who are sedentary and women who have reached or passed menopause. This loss of bone tissue leads to the weakness and postural problems that affect many older adults.

Resistance training, or weight-bearing exercise, counteract these bone losses. Studies also show that resistance training can improve insulin sensitivity and is counteracts inflammation. A Mayo Clinic student found that when overweight women performed twice-weekly resistance training sessions they showed significant drops in inflammation markers.