Osteoporosis Can Be Prevented and Reversed Without Drugs

Osteoporosis is widely thought to be an affliction of elderly women, but it strikes both the non-elderly and the non-women too. It is also widely thought to be non-curable and non-reversible. These are both wrong as well. Osteoporotic bones lead to the reduction of stature and the hunched over appearance with which everyone is familiar. This is tragic, but is made even more so due to the fact that it is 100% preventable. Beyond the posture there is the specter of pain and an unstable gait which leads to falls which leads to fractures and so on: the sweater of life starts unraveling.

Osteoporosis is caused by lack of several minerals, including calcium, in the bones. This causes them to weaken, eventually to the point of not being able to support the weight their owner places on them. At this point, they start to crush in on themselves. This is called the ‘fracture-threshold’. Bones in this state are also much more likely to break in a fall.

The standard therapy is calcium tablets, possibly with vitamin D. These are administered ostensibly to correct a calcium deficiency. However, almost no one in the west has a calcium deficiency. Any sensible diet and most non-sensible ones provide ample calcium. The calcium supplements do slow osteoporosis down a bit, but have the unfortunate side effect of increasing heart attacks and strokes by 15%. This is not a good trade-off.

The problem isn’t lack of calcium. The problem is getting the bones to use it. When bones are stressed the bone cells pull in calcium and become stronger. This will strengthen the bones well beyond the fracture-threshold effectively putting a stop to osteoporosis. It’s that simple.

But specifically, what to do? The trick is to stress the big bones, the spine, leg and hip bones by doing weight bearing exercise. By the way don’t be fooled by the phrase ‘weight bearing’ into thinking walking and jogging should count; for this purpose they do not count. The exercise has to be weight loaded enough to truly bend and deform the bones. Two very good such exercises are squats and dead lifts. Doing three sets of 10 each, once a week, correctly and with whatever weight you can safely muster, will effectively stop and reverse osteoporosis. We are talking about 10 minutes a week here. These exercises must be done right. It you belong to a gym, get a trainer to show you the right way. Most importantly, your back must be stiff and arched back at all time, feet flat on the floor, weight mostly on your heels. You must never be hunched over. Here is a video you can watch for squats, and here is one for dead-lifts. You don’t have to be hoisting the massive tonnage that these musclemen in the videos are using to get the desired result.

Start with a light weight, or no weight at all, and aim for a full range of motion. This will also greatly improve joint health. People tend to ignore this advice, so I’ll repeat: start with light weight.

Finally, to help regain any lost stature, or maintain that which you have, walk with an ‘ideal’ posture, the one your mother always nagged you about. Head up, shoulders back, nose in the air. Walk with a full step. Don’t shuffle along. People will immediately start treating you like you are some sort of V.I.P. (And be honest, you aren’t are you?)

Bone density is usually measured as part of a full body scan. Alternatively, you can get a cheaper scan that measures only this. My measuring, you can determine how far away from the fracture threshold you are.

Oh, and by the way, toss those calcium pills out.