Osteoporosis, osteopenia or maintaining current bone density – a quick few words about it.

I am getting to that age where I'm confronted with ageing.. I know some of you were trail-blazers, talking to me years ago about things like hot flushes and brittle bones. You convinced me to put the air-conditioner on, while I was rugged up in many layers.. One of the good things about online yoga now, right? . .that environment control!

So, now in menopause, I've researched what happens with ageing.. the effects of the drop in oestrogen. Though I seem to be cruising through pretty well, with chinese herbs, I know many students are doing it tougher and many are being diagnosed with osteopenia (decrease in bone density) or osteoporosis (weaker still).

Yoga is great for conservative management of symptoms of menopause – it's exercise, it's meditation... all good things to regulate hormone function. But I have been reviewing again how we integrate exercises to optimize bone density. In the studio we used to incorporate things like jumping or jogging on the spot.

If you already have decreased bone density be mindful and gentle with forward bends and twists (don't go hard) and you might like to reconsider letting 'just anyone' adjust your poses. You can increase your bone density again with the right food and weight bearing exercise.

Online now I'm encouraging students to keep a range of weight handy to use in our asana. And so I wanted to share some of these with you in this little youtube clip (below). Note that before doing anything with a weight you need to first be comfortable doing it with just body weight. Tthe more weight you hold the harder it is on the muscles. From the perspective of the bones, it's important to build up to heavier weights, but this needs to be slowly graded, with efficient technique so as not to strain joints or muscles. It may also need to be paced to manage any pain condition or injury you might have.

Strong bones are super important as we age. If you have any doubt about these exercises, make an appointment with me, for a yogaphysio assessment and I can set you something specific to your body's needs.