Ok, so the title might be not EXACTLY how to fall and not break your hip, but we will talk about how to reduce your risk of bone breakage should you happen to be in a situation where you have fallen and can’t get up. That’s right – I’m talking about preventing osteoporosis, people.
Are you at risk for osteoporosis? Let’s look at a few of the risk factors.
- Family history plays a huge part in a person’s risk for osteoporosis. If your parents or grandparents have had any signs of osteoporosis then let your doctor know.
- Women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis than men because of loss of estrogen. If you are a woman 40 to 50 years or older, you have the greatest risk of developing the disease.
- Age plays an obviously large part as well. Around age 30, bone mass starts to decline.
- Do you smoke? Smoking puts you at higher risk of having osteoporosis. Yet another good reason to stop smoking. Nicotine and the toxins in cigarettes generate a large amount of free radicals that attack the body.
“Well what the heck, Coach Joanna, what steps can I take to prevent osteoporosis?”
Good question, you. For starters, stop smoking. Building back bone density is a slow process, so stop smoking now.
Get your calcium on.
According to Mayo Clinic, men and women between the ages of 18 and 50 need 1,000 mg of calcium a day. When women turn 50 and men turn 70, the amount increases to 1,200 mg per day. To put this into perspective, one cup of skim milk has about 305 mg of calcium. Don’t like milk, you say? No problem. There are other great sources of calcium. For instance, try collard greens, black-eyed peas, broccoli, baked beans, kale, Chinese cabbage, orange, and almonds to increase calcium intake.
Get some sun.
Or more specifically, vitamin D. This mineral helps calcium to absorb properly in the body. You can increase your vitamin D through 20-25 minutes of sun exposure, but if you are wearing sunscreen like you should or don’t get out much, you can either get vitamin D through supplements or food.
Get with the program.
Weight bearing exercises will help keep bones strong. Exercise becomes increasingly important for women as we get older. Walking is considered weight bearing for lower body. What are you doing for your upper body? Try pushups (or start with wall pushups if regular pushups are too hard). Or you could try chair dips, like Coach Kaitlyn is doing below:
Starting in the position that Coach Kaitlyn is in, lower your butt to the ground and then push back up. Try to do three sets of 10. It also works the triceps and is Kaitlyn’s favorite upper body move!
Why is bone density important? Because the less you have, the more at risk you are for breaking your bones, specifically hips, spine and wrist. They take a long time to heal and can take the independence away from an elderly person.
Here are the CliffsNotes*:
- Don’t smoke
- Get calcium and vitamin D
- Exercise
*Yes, that is the way to properly spell it. It’s not “Cliff Notes” or even “Cliffs Notes”. It’s “CliffsNotes”. I looked it up.
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