The Importance of Weight-Bearing Exercise

"Weight-bearing exercise is actually a subset of certain aerobic and strength training exercises. It is exercise in which you force your body to support weight (your own included) while exercising. Studies have shown that weight-bearing exercise can help slow down the rate of bone loss and osteoporosis, and therefore reduce fractures. How does it do this? Weight-bearing exercise directly stimulates bone formation. Then, it strengthens muscles that in turn pull and tug on bones--this pulling action actually causes the bones to become denser and stronger. Weight-bearing activities at any age benefit bone health. Studies have shown that even people in their nineties can increase bone mass with weight-bearing exercise.

The best weight-bearing exercises are weight-lifting, jogging, hiking with a backpack, stair climbing, step aerobics, racquet sports, and other activities that require your muscles to work against gravity. Swimming and simple walking won't do the trick. One exceptionally useful form of weight-bearing exercise is rebounding (bouncing on a mini-trampoline). The act of rebounding makes use of gravitational forces (g-forces), just like astronauts training in a centrifuge. Rebounding can actually achieve momentary g-forces of 3.5, which means that the bones of a 150-pound person will momentarily have to bear 525 pounds of weight on each bounce--a good workout.

The benefits of weight-bearing exercise are site-specific, meaning that you strengthen only the bones used directly in the exercise. So, it's a good idea to participate in a variety of weight-bearing exercises. To maintain the bone-building benefits, the exercise needs to be done on a regular basis."

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