Weight-Bearing Exercises Improve Seniors Bone Density

How to tackle seniors bone fracture issues and improve bone density?  Information Providers – Seniors healthcare

Seniors are our treasure, more knowledgeable, help families in social and cultural crisis with their experience. They are security to families from social evils. Intern it is our responsibility to preserve our treasure – ‘the seniors’.  They are prone to many health hazards and as their next generation, we should take care of their health.

Common problems with Seniors

Seniors suffer from loneliness, security fear, financial fear, and health-related issues. Fall and bone fracture are very common in the house or outside. The bone will be fragile and contain less calcium in the old age. As the age grows, bones lose calcium and calcium is the element that binds bones together and makes them strong. When bone become brittle a fall will be more dangerous.  

Types of bone fractures

• The stress fracture is defined as the unusual use of the bone like very long walking, standing in the same place for a long time, over jumping, overdoing of weight-bearing exercises. They may be due to weak bone due to a disease like osteoporosis

The better way to save people from osteoporosis is to avoid alcohol. Alcohol intake more than two shots a day increase the chances of bone loss. On the other hand, smoking doubles the chance of bone loss and fractures. Smoking reduces estrogen in your body from working well.  Do not take too much soda water.

• Compound fracture: also called an open fracture occurs when the bone pierces through the skin.  Accidents cause this type of fracture and it is severe because the infection may cause due to bone fracture and skin scatter.

• Other fractures are displaced, non-displaced, transverse fracture, the oblique fracture, comminuted fracture and many more – read more at fractures at Ortho info.

How seniors can control bone fracture

There are some simple techniques that save seniors from the bone fracture.  If the seniors develop stamina and get additional calcium content through natural food habits they can prevent the seriousness of bone fracture. If seniors build bone strength with simple weight-bearing exercises. Do not just rely on calcium-rich food for improving bone strength, You have other methods to improve muscle strength and bone density by doing regular weight-bearing exercises. If you are having symptoms of osteoporosis, weight-bearing excises will help bring back to normal health.  osteoporosis is a disease symptom when bone density decrease or the body stops producing as much bone as the body requires. Bones look like a honeycomb with closer space in between. Those with osteoporosis, the space between will be large as shown below. This weak bone structure causes a broken bone or fractured bone during fall.  

What are weight-bearing exercises and how do seniors practice:

Weight-bearing exercises will stimulate bone and helps to improve bone density. These exercises are not regular gym exercises where people perform weight lifting exercises. These exercises compress bones using force and gravity. The major weight-bearing exercises are jagging and brisk walking. Other exercises include 

• Stair climbing
• Step aerobics

How to do weight-bearing exercises

• Squat: Stand straight, stretch your hands. Now move your legs apart and bend your hips down as if you are sitting on an armchair. Be in this posture for few seconds and come back to original position. This is Squat. This is a full exercise to the hip muscles, leg muscles, and bones. More info at Are you doing squat correctly?
• Single Leg standing with support: Try to stand on the single leg for some time and then try with another leg. Repeat this till your comfort level. Do not overdo. 
• Sit to stand to Sit on the knee and stand up and again sit and stand. Repeat this process for 10 times initially and then increase the repetition. This is a good weight-bearing exercise. 
• Step up: Step up is a simple yet powerful exercise for legs and buttock muscle. Stand before a staircase and move a leg up one or 2 stairs fitting your comfort level and slowly press your leg down to make the leg straight. Once you practice this exercise you can increase the stair steps. More at the video – step up
• Forward Lunge: Practice this exercise as shown below. Fist stand up straight with chest up and face straight. 

Then move one leg forward and bend on the knee. Give pressure on the ankle and stand up and repeat the exercise. More about this exercise – How to do perfect Lunge?

The above exercises will help elders improve confidence in them. Seniors have to have mental balance, They should avoid stress and stress-related activities. The other family members should take care

• In designing bathrooms: Remove smooth slipping surface in the bathrooms and supplement it with a rough surface. Bathroom beauty is not important when compared to seniors health issues. Give importance to our parents and grandparents, not decorative bathrooms. 
• According to Fox News 

  A $750 belt equipped with airbags could save the elderly from breaking their hips.

  The special device, called Hip’Air, can sense when the wearer is about to fall and automatically inflates airbags to absorb impact. More at the High-tech airbag

  

   

• The hip protectors are two types and the one divert the fall impact away from the hip area and the other absorb fall impact

Calcium supplements in food and food items like Low-fat milk, Yogurt and cheese, vitamin D fruits and vegetables, Collard greens, kale, okra, turnip greens, Chinese cabbage, and all greens.Calcium Spinach, tomato products, potatoes.magnesium, papaya, and pineapples.vitamin C, Vitamin K, soy milk, rice milk, cereals, snacks, and bread.

References:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stress-fractures/symptoms-causes/syc-20354057
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/fractures-broken-bones/
http://shine365.marshfieldclinic.org/bone-joint/build-bones-simple-weight-bearing-exercise/
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/keep-your-bones-strong-over-65/
https://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/2013-12-4-secret-to-stronger-bones-in-seniors/
https://www.epainassist.com/bones/what-is-compound-fracture
https://www.nof.org/patients/what-is-osteoporosis/

Always consult a physiotherapist before practicing exercises. An expert will help in performing them perfectly.  Keep the elders calm, be friendly with them, spend some time with them daily to relieve them from stress, give them confidence that you are with them in thick and thin. This will help them to improve their general health. Assist them while going to bathrooms in the night times. Help them to come out from their phobias and fears.