Questions
Why is it important to exercise if I’m perimenopausal or postmenopausal?
• Perimenopausal and postmenopausal women participating in weight bearing and/ or resistive exercise for at least 6-12 months can prevent or reverse bone loss in the spine and hip at a rate of 1%/year.
• Strength and balance training can reduce the rate of falling by more than 30%.
• Exercise can also improve gait, balance, coordination, proprioception, reaction time, and muscle strength-even in very old and frail elderly people.

What are the goals of exercise for someone with osteoporosis?
• Exercise goals for osteoporosis should include pain reduction, increased mobility and improvements in muscle endurance, balance and stability.

Are there general rules for exercise to help reduce bone loss?
• Exercise a minimum of 2-3 days/wk for 20-30 min/time.  Walking can be done daily.  Strengthening exercise can be done on alternate days.
• The principles of training still apply and these have been summarized by the American College of Sports Medicine.
 a. Specificity: only sites loaded by the exercise may respond as the effects are localized.
 b. Overload: the training stimulus must exceed the normal loading experienced by the skeleton in everyday activities and, as the bone responds, the stimulus must be increased progressively.
 c. Reversibility: any positive effects of training on BMD will only be maintained as long as the exercise is continued.
 d. Initial values: the most benefit is likely to be achieved in those with the lowest initial BMD.
 e. Diminishing returns: individuals appear to have a biological/genetic ceiling that determines the extent of improvement.

What is the ideal type of exercise program for maintaining bone mass?
• Impact type exercises for the spine and lower extremities include: brisk walking, climbing stairs, dancing, calisthenics, “weighted vest” calisthenics and step exercises, weight and/or resistive band strength training, tennis
• Impact type exercises for the upper extremities include: racket sports, fingertip wall pushups, weight and/or resistive band strength training, tennis ball squeezing (30 second squeeze done daily).

Contact us
Rehabilitation Services
Fairview Red Wing Medical Center
701 Fairview Blvd.
PO Box 95
Red Wing, MN 55066
651-267-5450