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Best Exercises, Yoga & Sports For Bone Health

It is very important to have healthy bones at every age; and for good bone health it is important for you to perform certain types of exercises, yoga poses, sports and activities on a regular basis. These exercises, yoga poses and sports help you in treating and preventing osteoporosis and they also improve the bone health, along with muscle strength, balance, and help you attain overall a better health. So, what are these exercises? Read below to know some of the exercises, yoga poses, sports and activities for bone health.

Exercises For Bone Health

Why To Exercise For Bone Health?

Before we talk about some of the exercises for bone health, let us know why to exercise for bone health? Like muscle, our bones are living tissues that becomes stronger with regular exercises.1 Your men and women who perform regular exercises generally achieve maximum bone density and bone strength, than those who do not exercise.

For most individuals, their bone mass peaks during their ages of 30s. However; after that usually bone mass begins to lose. Women as well as men, who are older than 20 years, can help prevent this bone loss by doing regular exercise. Moreover, exercise also help us in maintaining muscle strength, proper balance and coordination; which in turn aids in preventing falls and fractures related to it. This is especially very much essential for older adults and for people who are diagnosed with the condition of osteoporosis.

Some Exercises For Bone Health.

Now, let’s straight down come to our concerned topic, and i.e. some exercises for bone health.

Standing Hip Abduction

This is an exercise that helps in increasing the strength of your hip and also promotes fair balance. For doing this exercise, you might need a chair. By doing this exercise on a regular basis, you can improve your bone health. Below are the steps mentioned to perform this exercise.

Standing Hip Abduction

  • You need to make use of a chair so as to steady your body, if required.
  • Raise your leg to the side, keeping your knees straight and your toes pointing forward.
  • Hold on for a count of 2 and then lower back your leg very slowly.
  • Repeat this for 8 times in each of your leg.

Standing Hip Extension.

Standing hip extension is another exercise for bone health. This is an exercise for increase the strength of you hip and also increases the range of motion. Below are some of the steps to perform this exercise.

Standing Hip Extension

  • Steady yourself by using a chair, if required.
  • Keeping your knee straight, raise your leg backwards.
  • Hold this position for a count of 2, and then lower the leg back very slowly.
  • Repeat this for 8 to 10 times in each of the legs.

Standing Hip Flexion.

This is one more exercise for better bone health. This exercise also helps in increasing hip strength and also range of motion.

Follow the below mentioned steps to perform this exercise.

Standing Hip Flexion

  • Steady yourself by using a chair if required.
  • Now, by keeping the upper body tall, lift one of your knees until the thigh remains parallel to the floor.
  • Hold this position for a count of 2 and then lower your leg slowly.
  • Repeat this for 8 times.

Toes And Heels.

One more exercise for bone health is Toes and heels exercise. This increases the strength of your ankle and also increases the range of motion.

Below we have mentioned the steps for performing this move.

Toes And Heels

  • Make use of a chair so as to keep yourself steady, if required.
  • Now, keeping your feet at a hip-width distance, stand up on your feet’s balls.
  • Slowly lower in a way that your feet are absolutely flat on the ground and then lift your toes up in a way that you are standing only on your heels.
  • Lower back down your toes and relax.
  • Repeat it 8 times.

Cervical And Thoracic Extension.

This is one more exercise for bone health. This helps in increasing the strength of your upper back and improves the posture.

Read below to know the steps for doing this exercise.

Cervical And Thoracic Extension

  • Stand straight with your feet at a hip-width distance.
  • Now, tucking your chin in, press your shoulders back and also squeeze both your shoulder blades together.
  • Breathe in and ensure to feel an elongation in the upper spine.
  • Now relax back.
  • Repeat this 8 times.

Pelvic Tilt.

Pelvic tilt can also help you in improving bone health. This helps you in engaging the stomach muscles and strengthening your back.

Read below to know about the steps.

Pelvic Tilt

  • Lie on your back and keep your knees bent and feet touching the floor, and keep your arms absolutely relaxed at the sides.
  • Pull your belly button down and flatten the lower back. Make sure to use your stomach muscles and your legs are not used.
  • Here, hips will be rotating forward, however; they should not rise up from the floor.
  • Hold on this position for a count of 5.
  • Repeat it 8 times.

Pelvic Tilt With A Diaphragmatic Breathing.

This is another exercise for bone health. This increases your stomach strength and also supports the back bone.

Follow the steps as mentioned below and perform the exercise.

Pelvic Tilt With A Diaphragmatic Breathing

  • Place a hand on the abdomen and do the pelvic tilt.
  • While holding the position in pelvic tilt, try to breathe deep right from your diaphragm.
  • Feel that your hand is moving up and down as you breathe in and out.
  • Take 5 such deep breaths while properly maintaining the position.
  • Repeat this 3 times.

Pelvic Tilt Using Arms.

Pelvic Tilt Using Arms

  • This exercise also improves bone health and supports the back bone.
  • Perform a pelvic tilt and while holding this position and keeping your back absolutely flat on the ground, raise your arms up over your head.
  • Slowly lower your arms.
  • Repeat this 5 times by switching each arm.

Pelvic Tilt With Arms Behind The Head.

This is another exercise for bone health. It improves your posture.

Read below to know the steps of performing pelvic tilt with arms behind head.

Pelvic Tilt With Arms Behind The Head

  • Perform a pelvic tilt.
  • By holding the position in pelvic tilt, place your hands behind your head and then stretch your elbows down towards the ground.
  • Stretch your arms only as much as you can maintain the position of pelvic tilt.
  • Repeat this 8 times.

Squats.

Squats are one of the best exercises for bone health. They improve the strength of your upper thigh and also promote getting up at an ease.

Follow the below mentioned steps to perform this exercise.

Squats

  • Stand straight with your feet at hip-width distance from each other.
  • Make sure your back is kept straight, hinge forward at your hip and sticking rear-end out.
  • Lower your body as far as you can while keeping the knees behind your toes.
  • Hold this position for a second and then straighten up back.
  • Repeat this 8 times.

Best Yoga Poses for Bone Health.

Yoga can also help you in improving bone health. It is found that there has been an increase in the bone mineral density in some women’s spine, because of practicing yoga regularly. Yoga can help you build bone health in the spine, hips and the wrist bones; the bones which are most vulnerable to bone fracture.

Below are some of the yoga poses for bone health.

  • Warrior I and Warrior II Pose. Standing yoga poses, such as the Warrior I and Warrior II poses, work great with the large bones of legs and hips.
  • Downward Dog Pose. Downward Dog pose works with the bones of wrists, arm bones, and the shoulder bones.
  • Cobra Pose. Cobra pose can be effective in improving the bones of the back and also helps in preserving the spine health.
  • Bridge Pose. This is another yoga pose for bone health. It improves the hip bone strength and also the strength of your trunk.

Best Sports & Activities for Bone Health.

Racquet Sports.

Some of the racquet sports also help in improving your bone health. Tennis, paddle tennis, and squash are some of the sports that improve your bone density. Every time you are hitting the ball in these sports, you are stressing the racquet arm, shoulder and wrist, and also working your hips and the spine with all that running that you do while playing the sports. All these serve as a great workout for your bone health.

Golf.

The game of golf helps you improve your bone health, especially the hip bone and the spine. Shouldering golf bag around 18 holes, swinging the big clubs so as to drive the gold ball long; both, are great upper-body workouts. Golf could be considered as a weight-bearing exercise indeed.

Hiking.

Hiking is a great exercise that can be used for improving bone density and thus serves as an excellent exercise for your bone health. You get a great impact on your bones while you are going uphill or while coming downhill, and this improves the bone health. More the impact on your legs and feet, more is the bone density.

Dancing.

Dancing could be fun and also serve as a great exercise for your bone health. Salsa, Lindy hop, samba, Rhumba, foxtrot, East coast swing, and tango; all are the dance forms that helps you get your heart pumping in several ways and also helps in building strong bones. You can also try aerobics or kickboxing to improve your bone health and give your body a great workout.

Precautions To Be Taken If You Have Thin Bones.

Below are some of the precautions that you must take while doing the exercises for bone health.

  • Check with your doctor at first prior to starting any exercise and know well about your health conditions.
  • In case you have any health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, or obesity; or if you are above 40 years of age, consult with doctor on what all exercise you can do and what not.
  • You must aim at doing 30 minutes of exercise daily or most of the days in a week.
  • Listen to your own body and do not overdo.
  • Ask to your doctor which activities are really safe for you, in case you have osteoporosis. You need to avoid some activities if you have lower bone mass.

Conclusion.

So, above we talked about some of the best exercises, yoga and other sports for better bone health. If you are willing to prevent your bones then do practice these exercises on a regular basis. You must note that before starting any new exercise regimen, do consult with a fitness trainer and do the appropriate exercises under the trainer’s supervision. You can also talk to your doctor about the best exercises to prevent osteoporosis and help improve your bone health.

References:  

10 Exercises For Bone Strengthening

Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:August 17, 2019

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