Sport is a great ally for your bones, and even more if you practice outdoors. In this article we explain the benefits that physical exercise is for your bone health. Recalls complement these activities with a healthy diet, complete and balanced.
1. The bones of athletes
Benefits. Exercise is a good tool to strengthen our bones. Sport is the best ally of the bones. Physical activity causes muscle contraction which promotes calcium deposition in bone and improves blood circulation, which brings more nutrients to the bone.
The best way to prevent bone fractures is sports start in adolescence, when they reach their maximum bone density. If you get past the “awkward age, you still have time to strengthen your bones and prevent retirement plaster, by constant exercise and specific to your bones.
If you comb gray hair, you should not cope “on the couch to prevent fractures, has been to stay on feet less than 4 hours and practice less than 20 minutes a day of moderate exercise (just walking) are risk factors.
The latest medical research shows that specific exercises with weights can increase bone density in older people and prevent bone fragility with symptoms of osteoporosis.
Just as your muscles atrophy when not working with exercise, the bones deteriorate when you stop moving. To achieve strong bones, you have to work on muscle strength. The simple fact of living under the force of gravity, promotes calcification.
Astronauts who spend time in space, weightlessness, they begin to lose bone density. Since it requires the support of the walking skeleton, the body adapts bone weakening.
The more cache you wear, you develop more bone mass. As muscle tissue develops when exercising with weights, bones are also rebuilding and regenerating muscle mass to support more, are becoming stronger as you train or weaken when you stop training your muscles. The exercises with weights or no resistance to the muscle, are more advantageous to prevent bone decalcification.
The bones need a job and frequent short bursts every day to maintain its strength. It is important to gradually increase the load to make a profit.
2. Sports Wise
Gym. Sports such as aerobics are very suitable for taking care of our bones. Although resistance to the exercises that are the most desirable muscle to strengthen bones, there are more sports that encourage and stimulate bone density and strength.
- Running. Just half an hour run, res times per week to achieve an increase in bone mineral density at the spine and hips of the corridors. The difference between running and walking for bone is that when walking, only work with your body weight, however, running a vertebra of the spine supports 1.7 times your weight. To avoid impacts, you should pick a good running shoes and avoid running out of asphalt surfaces and grass land, more buffer.
- Gym classes. Aerobic, fitness, spinning, step, cardiotonic, aero-tae-box, etc.. The gyms have been proposed that do not get bored and get in shape. Any active sport, including exercises that load bones and improve circulation of the bone matrix. The important thing is to vary and be consistent, nothing to go three times a month.
- Swimming. No sport is more useful for the bones because the water is removed the force of gravity to facilitate the fixing of calcium. But toning muscles helps maintain resilient and flexible. Besides, now you can also find loads group classes that help people at risk of fracture, to work your muscles without risk of fractures.
- Tai-Chi. One way to prevent fractures is to improve the balance and this Eastern practice is highly recommended for people fleeing very vigorous physical activity.
- Walk. For older people, walking is a natural way to maintain bone strength safely. Just one hour to walk faster pace to stimulate bone growth, climbing stairs, taking small jumps, dance, any excuse to not stop being active centenarians.
3. Beware of the thinness
Those athletes have strong bones and protected to reach maturity. However, the excesses are paid, and there are sports in which thinness is seen as an advantage when competing.
Not only / women gymnasts, endurance athletes, marathoners / as, cyclists, etc.. trying to maintain a minimum weight gain that hundredth of a second beating a mark.
By following an intensive aerobic workout and a diet low in calories, you run the risk of developing the athlete triad, characterized by excessive thinness, loss of menstruation in women, feeding problems and impaired bone mineral.
Remember … a balanced diet is part of an individual athlete training and investing in your health.
4. In case of injury …
When you suffer an injury and you cast, immobilized the area suffers a loss of muscle and bone mass that leads to immobility. But now there is a solution to prevent it.
A work with women who practiced endurance training and muscular strength for a year, for a single leg, managed to increase muscle strength up to 26% and the density and bone quality to 2% in the trained leg. And most importantly, also increased strength and bone density in the leg not trained.
Therefore, if you cast the leg or arm, you know you have to put in a leg or arm to counter the immobility.
