{"id":429279,"date":"2010-03-15T06:46:27","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T10:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e54fc8012e88330120a931e995970b"},"modified":"2010-03-15T06:52:43","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T10:52:43","slug":"weight-bearing-yoga-can-have-a-positive-effect-on-bone-health-strengthening-bones-and-reducing-the-risk-of-osteoporosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/429279","title":{"rendered":"Weight-Bearing Yoga Can Have a Positive Effect on Bone Health &#8211; Strengthening Bones and Reducing the Risk of Osteoporosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xhtml\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a931c780970b-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54fc8012e88330120a931c780970b \" src=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a931c780970b-350wi\" style=\"width: 350px;\"><\/img><\/a>  <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">&#8220;The weight-bearing yoga training had a positive effect on bone by slowing down bone resorption which was a very essential indicator for human health because it reduced the osteoporosis risks in this group of postmenopausal women.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">-Phoosuwan, M. et al.\u00a0 &#8220;<em>The Effects of Weight Bearing Yoga Training on the Bone Resorption Markers of the Postmenopausal Women<\/em>&#8221;\u00a0 <strong>J Med Assoc Thai <\/strong>2009; 92(Suppl. 5):S102-8<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">&#8220;Physical activity is profoundly beneficial to bone health &amp; every study that has looked at this has shown a much lower risk of fracture among people who are physically active.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">&#8220;This really applies to the bones that are exercised&#8211;the bones that are stressed.\u00a0 Walking &amp; other weight-bearing exercise reduce rates of hip fracture&#8211;<strong>but may not do much for wrist fracture, so we need other exercises for our upper body bones to keep them strong<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8212;<\/span><\/span>Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, is Chairman of the Department of Nutrition<br \/>\nand Frederick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at<br \/>\n<strong>Harvard University&#8217;s School of Public Health<\/strong>&#8212;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/happy_healthy_long_life\/2010\/03\/yoga-bone-health.html\"><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/happy_healthy_long_life\/2010\/03\/yoga-bone-health.html\"><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/happy_healthy_long_life\/2010\/03\/yoga-bone-health.html\">Click here <\/a>if you&#8217;ve received this post via email to get to the web version with all the links.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;ve been wondering for awhile about the connection between yoga &amp; bone-strengthening.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s why.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My high school friend Sheila is petite, small-boned, very thin, and osteopenic.\u00a0 She&#8217;s sees a rheumatology\/osteoporosis specialist, takes bone-strengthening meds and yet she still continued to lose bone density.\u00a0 When she switched her exercise routine to include a power-sculpt class &amp; yoga she started to see improvements.\u00a0 She doesn&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s because of the yoga or the weights, so she&#8217;s not about to stop either.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>My college friend Cindy is small-boned, thin, and osteopenic.\u00a0 She sees an endocrinology\/osteoporosis specialist, takes bone-strengthening meds, and recently noticed improvements in the bone density of her wrists&#8211;while here hip and spine remained stable.\u00a0 She wondered if her more regular attendance at yoga classes could be responsible&#8211;and the downward-facing dog pose, in particular.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>My yoga teacher mentioned 3 weeks ago that before she started to practice yoga regularly her bone density scan put her in the osteopenic range.\u00a0 After a few years of regular yoga practice she\u00a0 moved solidly into the normal bone density range.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Is it really possible that a regular yoga practice can improve one&#8217;s bone density?\u00a0 I decided to see if I could find a yoga\/bone strength connection in the medical literature.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Makes sense to my lay-person understanding of bones.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">&#8220;Bones are similar to muscles.\u00a0 Use muscles, and they become bigger and stronger.\u00a0 Stop using them, and they weaken and atrophy.\u00a0 Like muscles, when bones are used&#8211;when they support weight or carry a load (within reason)&#8211;they get stronger.<\/span><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">When bones bear weight, they experience strain.\u00a0 Strain produces microscopic weak spots.\u00a0 As those weak spots develop, the bone cells in the vicinity release chemicals that signal the body:\u00a0 Weak spot!\u00a0 Send help!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">Bone-clearing osteoclasts converge on the problem area and dissolve the weakened bone.\u00a0 Then osteoblasts migrate from nearby bone marrow, enter the tiny breach, and create new bone.\u00a0 <br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\">Normal strain stimulates the creation of new, strong robust bone.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #8b8b8b;\"> In other words: weight-bearing activities give bones a reason to thrive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Amy Lanou, PhD &amp; Michael Castleman, <strong>Building Bone Vitality.<\/strong>\u00a0 NY:McGraw-Hill, 2009.\u00a0 pgs. 154-155.&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #bf5f00; font-size: 14px;\"><strong>Full Disclosure:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span> Lanou &amp; Castleman are huge advocates of walking outdoors&#8211;up &amp; down hills, or up &amp; down stairs, or carrying a load&#8211;as a dynamic bone-strengthening exercise.\u00a0 Dr. Walter Willett is also a big fan of walking for bone health&#8211;<strong>but he says it strengthens the hip primarily, and we need to stress all the bones in the body.\u00a0 That&#8217;s where yoga enters the picture<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #bf5f00; font-size: 15px;\">Searching the Medical Literature for the Yoga\/Bone Strengthening Connection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As crazy as it sounds there is next to nothing written on this subject.\u00a0 But, I did come across one well-constructed preliminary report published in 2009 in the <strong>Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand,<\/strong> of all places.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/19891384\">Click here<\/a> for the article<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Before writing this post, I went back to PubMed and bingo, there&#8217;s a brand new pre-publication article&#8211;hot-off-the-press, called, &#8220;<em>Yoga might be an alternative training for the quality of life and balance in postmenopausal osteoporosis<\/em>,&#8221;\u00a0 Tuzun, S. et al,\u00a0<strong> European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine<\/strong>.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minervamedica.it\/en\/journals\/europa-medicophysica\/article.php?cod=R33Y9999N00A0062\">Click here<\/a> to read the full article.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you are reading this post you will probably be one of the few people in the country who will have heard about this article.\u00a0 The <strong>Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand<\/strong> can be found in only 12 libraries in the U.S.\u00a0 With over 5000 medical journals currently competing for attention the odds are slim that this preliminary report will get much notice by anyone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #bf5f00; font-size: 15px;\">The Cliff Notes on the Thailand Study<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">What happens to the bones of women once estrogen walks out of their lives?\u00a0\u00a0 Bone resorption begins, and new bone formation decreases.\u00a0 And we all know what that means.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Knowing that weight-bearing exercises like jogging, walking, and aerobic dancing benefit bone, the author&#8217;s of this study set out to see if 5 yoga poses would have a similar positive effect.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tree Pose<\/li>\n<li>Downward Facing Dog Pose<\/li>\n<li>Warrior III Pose<\/li>\n<li>Triangle Pose<\/li>\n<li>Half Moon Pose<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Who was in the study:\u00a0<\/strong> 33 healthy, postmenopausal women, between the ages of 50-60 years old.\u00a0 None of them smoked, drank alcohol, used hormone replacement therapy, or drank more than 2 cups of coffee a day.\u00a0 No one exercised more than twice a week.\u00a0 No one had osteoporosis, or a bone mineral density of -2.5<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who did what in the study:\u00a0<\/strong> 19 women chose to take the weight-bearing yoga training class.\u00a0 14 women preferred to join the control group, and just continue with their &#8220;normal lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>The Before &amp; After Tests:\u00a0 <\/strong>Everyone had a blood tests to measure measure their biochemical bone markers.\u00a0 This included the <strong>Beta-CrossLaps Test<\/strong>, which measures bone resorption and is used to monitor antiresorptive therapies (eg, bisphosphonates (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayomedicallaboratories.com\/test-catalog\/Overview\/83175\">click here<\/a> to learn more), and the <strong>P1NP<\/strong> <strong>Test<\/strong>, which measures bone formation markers.\u00a0 Quality of life was also measured with the <strong>SF-36 <\/strong>questionnaire, but that isn&#8217;t my interest here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The yoga routine for the study:<\/strong>\u00a0 10 minutes of stretching before and after yoga, to prevent injury.\u00a0 The group practiced for 50 minutes, 3 times a week, for 12 weeks.\u00a0 They performed 3 sets of 6 yoga poses.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>This description seems unclear to me, since the authors only discuss 5 poses&#8211;but that&#8217;s how it&#8217;s written up in the article.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Results:<\/strong>\u00a0 After 12 weeks the bone resorption markers (Beta-CrossLaps) of the control group &amp; the yoga group were <strong>significantly different (p = .0003)<\/strong>.\u00a0 More importantly, the bone resorption marker of the yoga group was significantly reduced by -26.939% from when they started, compared to the control group&#8217;s reduction of only -0.77.1%\u00a0 That means, the markers for bone loss of the yogis was significantly reduced and those yoga poses were clearly having a positive effect on the control group&#8217;s bones.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What does the improvement in the yoga group mean?<\/strong>\u00a0 It implies that weight-bearing yoga training could reduce the rate of bone loss in postmenopausal women, and decrease the risk of osteoporosis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why does it work?\u00a0 <\/strong>The poses (postures) used in this study put appropriate and equal stress on a variety of bones throughout the body&#8211;the hips, the wrists, the spine, and the arms.\u00a0 For example, in some poses the participants had to stand on one leg, forcing that leg to bear all the weight of the body&#8211;using more leg-muscle contraction to obtain better balance.\u00a0 That muscle force stresses the bone and kicks in the whole bone remodeling process that is so well explained above by Lanou &amp; Castleman. <\/p>\n<p>Downward Facing Dog Pose and Half Moon Pose stress the bones of the upper body, such as the chest, the back, arms, and wrists.\u00a0 Tree Pose and Warrior III stress the leg and hip bones.\u00a0 Triangle Pose stresses the back, hip, and legs.\u00a0 Doing all 5 poses continuously, and repetitively 3 times a week was enough to wake up the the body&#8217;s bone remodeling system&#8211;resulting in a significant reduction of bone resorption\/loss.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who regularly practices yoga would probably agree that there are far more than 5 poses that put stress on one&#8217;s bones, muscles, and balance&#8211;and often far more than a free weight work-out.\u00a0 Plank pose, Chaturitanga, Up Dog, Eagle Pose, and toe balances&#8211;to name a few.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #bf5f00; font-size: 15px;\">The Yoga Poses Used in the Study<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326a64970b-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Downward Facing Dog Pose (Ardho Mukha Svanasana)\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326a64970b \" src=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326a64970b-400wi\" style=\"width: 400px;\" title=\"Downward Facing Dog Pose (Ardho Mukha Svanasana)\"><\/img><\/a> <br \/> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e883301310f9905bc970c-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54fc8012e883301310f9905bc970c \" src=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e883301310f9905bc970c-400wi\" style=\"width: 400px;\" title=\"Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)\"><\/img><\/a> <br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326bc8970b-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Warrior III Pose (Virabhadrasana III)\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326bc8970b \" src=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326bc8970b-400wi\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><\/img><\/a> <br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a932935d970b-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54fc8012e88330120a932935d970b \" src=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a932935d970b-400wi\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><\/img><\/a> <br \/> \u00a0<br \/> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326de2970b-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tree Pose (Vrksasana)\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326de2970b \" src=\"http:\/\/www.happyhealthylonglife.com\/.a\/6a00e54fc8012e88330120a9326de2970b-400wi\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><\/img><\/a> <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Take Away Point:\u00a0<\/strong> This was just a preliminary study, but certainly the results seem promising to me.\u00a0 Combined with the N=3 experience of my 2 friends &amp; my yoga teacher&#8211;maybe yoga has real promise as a way to stave off osteoporosis, de-stress, and improve balance all at the same time.\u00a0 A 3-for-one exercise.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Don&#8217;t Miss This Story of &#8220;How a Bone Disease Grew to Fit the Prescription&#8221;<\/strong>, by NPR&#8217;s Alix Spiegel.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=121609815\">Click here <\/a>to read or listen to the story.\u00a0 You can even read the full transcript if you don&#8217;t want to miss any of it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This first class piece of journalism will open your eyes to the whole controversy of whether or not osteopenia is a disease that needs to be treated with a drug.\u00a0 I&#8217;m choosing treatment with yoga, walking, weight-training, vitamin D, and lots of vegetables, especially the greens, and fruit.\u00a0 More on this later!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Do any yogis out there have some positive bone density scans to add validity to the Thailand study?\u00a0 I&#8217;d love to hear about it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/typepad\/happyhealthylonglife\/happy_healthy_long_life?a=bnoN7w0JC9s:5b5AbPjuGZM:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/typepad\/happyhealthylonglife\/happy_healthy_long_life?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/typepad\/happyhealthylonglife\/happy_healthy_long_life\/~4\/bnoN7w0JC9s\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The weight-bearing yoga training had a positive effect on bone by slowing down bone resorption which was a very essential indicator for human health because it reduced the osteoporosis risks in this group of postmenopausal women.&#8221; -Phoosuwan, M. et al.\u00a0 &#8220;The Effects of Weight Bearing Yoga Training on the Bone Resorption Markers of the Postmenopausal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2896,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}