What exercise is recommended for people who want to improve bone health?

There are four main goals for exercise in individuals with bone health concerns:

1)    Reduce fall and fracture risk

2)    Learn how to move safely with appropriate posture and body mechanics

3)    Protect against further reductions in bone density

4)    Improve overall health and resilience

 What types of exercise will best help achieve those goals? Because bone growth is stimulated by the forces that act on bone, to have the biggest benefit to bone health, we need to be purposeful about choosing activities that safely increase the forces on our bones.

 Overall, individuals with osteoporosis or osteopenia should prioritize strength/resistance training in combination with impact and balance training at least 2x/week for at least 6 months, and ideally throughout the lifespan. This should be in addition to other weight-bearing aerobic exercise or physical activity done throughout the week in order to meet overall physical activity guidelines. If you’ve never exercised before and that amount seems daunting, remember some exercise is better than none, and more is better than less.

 Walking as a standalone intervention has not been shown to reduce falls or improve bone density in older adults. Only doing impact exercise or walking alone while excluding strength and balance training will not give you maximum benefit.