Susan Brown, Phd, of the Better Bones book and site, has remodeled her site and started a new blog. She does recommend my weight vest for her clients. Her first article is about the common myths of Osteoporosis and Osteopenia. It’s all the same stuff I’ve been telling you but it’s good to have it all in one place so you probably will want to read it here.
For people in a hurry the most interesting part is that bone density still has not been proven to have much to do with bone fractures. People find this hard to believe but it’s true. People with thin bones fracture and people with normal bones fracture. It really depends on the kind of fall you have.
Dr Brown says, “Nature in all her wisdom has provided each of us with plenty of surplus bone. We have such a large bone mass safety reserve, in fact, that even with an osteoporotic bone density, we still have enough bone mass to withstand the stresses and strains of daily activity without ever fracturing a single bone.
Bones that fracture are weak because they lack the ability to repair themselves properly from the micro fractures that regularly occur due to normal stress and strain. Thus, bone which fractures isn’t only thin, but also of poor quality with diminished self-repair capability. Self-repair can be inhibited by many factors, including lack of nutrients and exercise, an acid-forming diet, various medications, an overload of chemicals and pollutants, and the like.”
She also has a great quote from Dr Susan Ott about bisphosphonate drugs, “Many people believe that these drugs are ‘bone builders,’ but the evidence shows they are actually bone hardeners.”
The reason for the confusion is that in bone density tests, Fosamax often appears to increase bone density. As Dr. Ott explains, “This is because the bone is no longer remodeling, and so there is not much new bone. The older bone is denser than the newer bone; there is less water and more mineral in the bone, and the radiographic techniques thus measure the higher density.”
This is why I have so many women calling now who have been on the bone drugs for a year or five years, who had higher Dexa numbers at first and now their numbers are dropping radically. I wonder how long it will take their bones to recover from those chemicals and start building normally again.
Bone building requires movement of muscles pulling on the bone with the addition of weights, that’s why my weightvest works so well. It’s the easiest way to build strength and bone doing your normal life.
Enjoy your Spring, wherever you are,
Pam
