Improve your skeleton: yoga for osteoporosis – Hugger Mugger

Images of witches, ghosts, black cats, zombies and skeletons abound this month. These iconic images are meant to be scary, and some of them are – although I have to say that having lived with a few black cats in my life, I’m not scary at all. Still, Halloween images are meant to evoke a bit of fear and anxiety.

When you see a picture of a skeleton, the first thing that comes to mind is probably not osteoporosis. Nevertheless, according to the National Osteoporosis FoundationCurrently, 10 million of us live with osteoporosis, and 34 million people are currently at risk for the disease.

How can yoga help?

There are many simple things you can do now, at any age, to prevent the disease: eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, get regular exercise, increase your vitamin D and calcium/magnesium intake. But if you’re reading this blog at all, you probably practice yoga. Is yoga an exercise that can help keep your bones strong?

Dr. Loren Fishman says yes. In this interview (read the whole piece – it’s very informative), he explains why yoga keeps our bones strong:

“Yoga helps grow bone mass, but because yoga poses pull and stretch the bones from every conceivable angle, yoga can also stimulate bone formation. bone structure that is able to withstand greater amounts of pressure, as well as many different types of challenges.

“…there are numerous other important ways that yoga benefits people with osteoporosis, such as improving balance, muscle strength, range of motion and coordination, while reducing anxiety. These are other important benefits of yoga for people with osteoporosis, as they all help reduce the risk of falls.”

Yoga for osteoporosis

Here are my thoughts on yoga for osteoporosis, specifically how different types of poses help keep your bones healthy:

Standing postures and balancing postures: Promote balance, use weight bearing to strengthen the bones, stretching the leg muscles along the bones pulls and stretches the bones.

Backbends: Fight the urge to bend over as your bones become weaker.

Twists and side stretches: Keep the thoracic area (upper back) mobile.

Forward bends: Reduces stress, stretching the muscles along the bones pulls and stretches the bones. Make sure that when you bend forward, you always bend from your hip joints, and not from your waist. Bend your knees if necessary to achieve this.

So don’t be put off by your own skeleton. Dive into your practice knowing that yoga will not only make you feel good now, but it will likely make your life happier (and much less scary) in the future.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. Her third book is titled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly column for CATALYST Magazine and is an editor for Yoga U Online. Charlotte is a founding member of GreenTREE Yoga, a nonprofit organization that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and folk sextet Red Rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy Awards.