3 Exercises that Protect Bone Health

Protecting bone health takes a multi-faceted approach. It involves an overall healthy lifestyle that includes getting adequate sleep, stress management, hydration, a balanced eating pattern, and targeted moves that include aerobic (cardio), resistance (strength), and flexibility and balance to keep your stability and avoid falls.  

In this blog, we are going to feature 3 moves that provide resistance and balance to strengthen bones and muscles and help you avoid falls and avoid osteoporosis. They are hip bridges, heel drops, and shoulder press.  

• Hip bridge – strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, thighs, back muscles, and abdominals 

• Heel drops – strengthens the foot, ankle, calf muscles; promotes stability and bone building 

• Shoulder press – strengthens wrist muscles, shoulders, triceps, abdominals, and upper back muscles 

These simple moves are low to moderate impact. Consult with your physician before trying these or other exercises.  

Keeping your independence 

In thinking about your activities of daily life, being able to continue simple tasks is vital, like lifting something over your head and placing it on a shelf, getting out of bed, or taking the stairs. 

Being able to continue to wash your hair, putting on your shirt or picking up something off the floor involves using certain muscles.  

These aren’t the only exercises needed for strong bones, but they involve many muscles. 

Core muscles 

Most of us know that the abs or tummy muscles make up the core. But the core includes much more than that. The muscles in the back, the obliques, the hips, and glutes are all part of the core too! The core muscles hold you upright and stabilize you as you move.  

Hip bridge  

Hip bridges are low-impact moves that strengthen the muscles of your core that stabilize you throughout the day.  

Begin this simple move by lying on your back. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor, knees point to the sky, hip-with apart and comfortably near your glutes. 

With arms by your sides, palms face down, take a deep breath in and brace your core and press both feet evenly into the mat. Pretend there is a chain attached to your tail bone.  

Exhale as you slowly raise your hips one vertebrae at a time until you reach your shoulder blades. You’ll be in a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.  

Inhale and slowly lower your hips, releasing one vertebra at a time to return to the starting position. Repeat for a total of 5 reps. As you progress, challenge yourself by gradually increasing the number of reps. 

Heel drops 

Heel drops are a moderate-impact exercise that strengthens the calf muscles and imparts forces to the skeleton encouraging bone building.

  

Breathe normally and begin by standing, feet hip-width apart, wearing supportive tennis shoes. You can hold onto a nearby wall, counter, or sturdy chair.  

Slowly raise your calves so that you are on your toes. Hold for 3 counts, then quickly and firmly drop your heels to complete one rep. Repeat for a total of 5 reps. As you progress, challenge yourself by gradually increasing the number of reps. 

Shoulder press 

The shoulder press strengthens bones and muscles in the upper body with weight resistance.  

Begin standing, kneeling, or seated on a sturdy chair. With 1 to 2-pound dumbbells in your hands, raise them to skim your shoulders (starting position). Take a deep breath in. Breath out pressing the weights straight up over your head. Breathe in while lowering the weights back to your shoulders, completing one rep. Repeat for a total of 5 reps and take a 20 second break and do 2 more sets of 5 reps each.  

As you progress, you can gradually increase the number of reps to 12 in each set. When you can comfortably perform 12 reps, increase the weight and drop back to 5 reps. The goal is to progressively increase the resistance to help maximize your benefit. 

Conclusion 

The hip bridge, heel drops, and shoulder press movements strengthen muscles and bones supporting your activities of daily living. Strong bones help prevent osteoporosis and fractures. 

These exercises also promote balance to help prevent a fall. In our book we go into more depth on exercise and include chapters on foods, supplements, and medications in our book, Eating for Better Bones: Fighting Osteoporosis, available on Amazon.