A good place to start is with the amount of exercise you should be doing per week:

Below are the guidelines for weekly exercise per age group category:

5-18 years – 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercises every day

19-64 years – 75 minutes of vigorous exercise or 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly, plus strengthening exercises 2 days per week. 

65 years + - 150 minutes of moderate exercise every week (e.g. walking/cycling) and strengthening exercises 2 days per week. 

This looks quite complicated at first but can be broken down into:

1. 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days of the week

2. 2 sessions of strengthening exercises 2 days a week

Both the moderate exercise and strengthening exercises can contribute to bone health.

Moderate exercise

Moderate exercise to improve bone health should be weight bearing. Weight bearing exercise includes walking, jogging and dancing.

Strengthening  exercises

Strengthening exercises also help to improve bone health because loading the muscles also loads the bone at the point at which the muscles attach to the bone.

Strengthening exercises can involve lifting external weights as well as using your own body weight against gravity.

Its also important to consider working on the parts of the body most affected by osteoporosis - the spine, hips and wrists.

Good examples of strength exercises include:

• bicep/triceps curls with dumbells

• wrist curls with dumbells

• marching on the spot or high knees

• small jumps on the spot

• squats/lunges

• back extensions laying on your front

• half sit up laying on the back

• clam shells with a resistance band round the knees

So there you have it. Make sure you do a mixture of moderate weight bearing exercise as well as strengthening exercises during the week.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

The content of this blog is copyright of Holly Elliott registered osteopath GOsC 9607 trading as Helping Hands Health 15a Clayton Road Jesmond Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4RP.