Dancetown - Cobalt Flux Inc

	Osteoporosis and exercise
	Osteoporosis and exercise

Osteoporosis and its consequences represent a major public health problem in older adults [19]. Physical inactivity can result in altered bone metabolism in postmenopausal women, in association with reduced estrogen secretion, which remains the leading cause [20].

Epidemiologic and experimental exercise studies indicate that physical exercise and regular bone loading exercise are crucial in improving and maintaining bone mass and strength, and so preventing osteoporotic and fall-related fractures [21-24]. Exercise prevents or even reverses bone loss at different sites, as demonstrated by a number of meta-analyses [14-16], and there is general agreement that weight-bearing exercises (e.g., walking, running, step aerobics, gymnastics) provide the greatest osteogenic stimulus [25].

Other benefits of physical exercise include increased muscle mass, muscle strength, flexibility and dynamic balance [26, 27]. Muscle strength exercises, balance training and walking have also been shown to reduce falls in older adults [22].

Several different types of exercise have been tested in postmenopausal women, with the purpose of preventing osteoporosis and related complications (falls, fractures). Brisk walking, dancing and jumping appear to slow or prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women [22, 28]. This data confirmed the benefits of aerobic dancing on bone mineral density found in premenopausal women [29] and in professional female dancers [30, 31].

A recent study, conducted in 135 postmenopausal women, investigated the compliance to a home-based exercise program, which is relatively non time-consuming, is inexpensive, and can be fit to any lifestyle. This program followed an initial training session by a physiotherapist. Compliance was low, decreasing progressively in time (only 39% of after 1 month, 28% after 6 months and 18% after 18 months) [32]. The main reason for withdrawal was lack of motivation (61%; 84/135), followed by unrelated events (16%; 22/135) and pain related to the assigned training (4%; 6/135). One of the reasons which authors attributed this low adherence to was the type of proposed program itself: this was based on repetitive movements to reinforce specific muscle groups, and the authors commented that it might have been less attractive than a program that includes running and dancing classes.