Many people around the world suffer from a fairly common condition called
osteoporosis. This translates in English into brittle bone disease, and the
name of the condition implies that patients have very weak bones that are
easily broken from efforts which would otherwise have been considered
moderate. The affliction generally plagues older women, who tend to have
weaker bones in either case. Doctors have been suggesting to their
osteoporosis patients to exercise more for years, but now a new study shows
that this advice should actually be given decades before the disease sets
in.
The investigation was conducted on 2,300 test subjects, all of them male,
and ranging in age from 18 onwards. The goal was to assess the average
differences in bone density levels among individuals who reported doing
sports, and those who were more of the sedentary type. Even moderate amounts
of efforts are sufficient to promote a more dense bone, or at least in
maintaining existing density. This is made obvious on the astronauts aboard
the International Space Station (ISS). Even in microgravity, regular
workouts prevent them from becoming paralyzed when returning to Earth.
This is an exaggerated example, as microgravity is very harsh on both
muscles and bones, and returning astronauts require physiotherapy in either
case. But the same holds true with average men over the course of their
lifetimes. Spending years behind a desk with only minimal amounts of effort
placed in bone health can have devastating consequences later on in life.
The new work was conducted by investigators at the University of Gothenberg,
in Sweden, LiveScience reports.
“The bones respond best when you're young, and if you train and load them
with your own bodyweight during these years, it has a stimulating effect on
their development. This may be important for bone strength much later in
life too, so reducing the risk of brittle bones,” says PhD candidate and
physiotherapist Martin Nilsson, who was the leader of the investigation. The
study revealed that performing varied exercises between the ages of 10 and
30 has the most significant influence on how bone density will evolve later
on in life.
Source : Softpedia
