Thinning bones

[nosrednayduj]

So I had a bone density scan. As earlier mentioned, I had to cajole it out of my doctor.

Turns out I have "mild osteopenia", which means my bones are starting to lose mass, but not to the point of full blown osteoporosis. Apparently I don't have the bones of a 20 year old. Ken said, "good thing, the 20 year old needs her bones!" Visions of the old Far Side "boneless chicken farm" cartoon danced in our heads.

I don't have the numbers from the scan yet so I can't look up on the web what exactly it means and how I actually compare to my age group. But they want me to do more calcium and vit. D (I'd already been doing a little) and come back in 5 years.

On the phone, they started in on exercise but I shut them up because I exercise way more than the average person. However, sadly, it turns out bicycling apparently isn't sufficiently "weight-bearing" to be good for your bones. Yoga is (well, when you're not on the floor, but in a 1-hour Vinyasa class, it's usually 45 minutes standing poses, and 15 on the floor), but I only do that once a week.

The wisdom of the internet suggests that the best weight-bearing exercises are also the jarring kind, like you get from jogging. This, however, goes poorly with plantar fasciitis and lousy knees. So I expect that's not going to happen. Cuz if my feet hurt like hell there's no exercise at all til they get better!

So, I dunno. I'll see when I get the numbers how bad it really is. Maybe it just means I'm 57 and I need to get over it.

Comments

[apparentparadox]

You should look up to see if an elliptical machine would provide sufficient "weight bearing" while also protecting your feet. Or maybe a stair master?

[nosrednayduj]

According to my interpretation of what I read on the internet , elliptical is better than bicycling, and stairmaster is better than elliptical. I have a stairmaster (well, some other, cheaper, brand of stair climber), so when it rains or snows I use that. But I really like to be outdoors. Today I took a 45 minute walk since it rained overnight and so the roads were wet and thus not congenial for biking. Not sure how fast I need to walk for it to be considered "brisk"; the random GPS app I have apparently reports in integral km/h, because it kept saying "2.2", "2.8", "3.4", never anything in between, finally I realized those numbers are 0.6 different... Maybe I need another app. But it seems like I walk appx 3 m/h. I ran my heart rate up to ~110, which is 60% of maximum, using the 220 minus age rule, which is tolerably useful.

[apparentparadox]

I think that lots of people recommend "perceived exertion" -- how hard do you were working. If you can't easily converse to someone (or yourself aloud) while doing an exercise, then it's probably too hard. If you don't feel like you're even exercising, then it's probably too little. Other than that, I would think you're doing OK.

[lauradi7dw]

It might be worth reading "Strong Women, Strong Bones" by Miriam Nelson and Sarah Wernick, even though it's pretty old. While a one-word exercise prescription might be "Jump," pumping iron can be important as well.
I take alendronate, in addition to the other stuff I do, but I have a grim family history (and unfortunate DXA scores). I worry about falling.