Osteoporosis

[s.oliver]

Hi Rip,

A few questions on osteopororis & strength training:
- Is osteoporis reversible at any age and stage of its development? I've come across information that its severity is divided into four stages.
- What is your take on osteoporosis being 'genetic' in some people? Isn't the 'genetic' argument another way of sentencing someone to an 'incurable disease' - rather than actually looking at the fact that if strength and body weight go up, the argument of 'genetic' falls away?
- What do you make of medication that increases bone density? I know this is a medical question so might not be the right place to ask - but it has seemed counterintuitive to me to prescribe medication for a condition like this since weak bones are best fixed by loading/increase in body weight?

Thanks

[stef]

- Officially, no. You'll see the medical industry talk about things like "managing"/"slowing progression." Our experience is otherwise.

- There are aspects that are genetic. Genetics doesn't mean a "sentence" or "incurable" or even that it is the primary thing - its just a part of the overall situation. For example, blacks have higher bone density than whites/asians and lower risk of osteoporosis.

- Bones are constantly being remodeled - being broken down, being rebuilt. The trick is to set up an environment that doesn't allow the one side to get in the lead. We do this with progressive loading and a appropriate recovery - protein, minerals, sunlight.

The most commonly used drugs inhibit bone breakdown. This sounds great until you remember that they get in the middle of normal processes that should be taking place. So while they preserve density and may look successful on the tests the industry depends on, it doesn't yield bone with normal properties. They're rough drugs to take and trade tendencies of some types of fractures for increased risk of others.

[Rednek]

Stef is dead on. This from The Midwestern Doctor The Great Osteoporosis Scam - by A Midwestern Doctor

Question for Stef-I have 2 sisters in their 60's that I have failed to convince to get under the bar. Both are taking a product called Algacal. They have had scans showing bone density increase yet one broke her 5th metatarsal when she stepped on an electrical cord(!) and the other one cracked ribs by leaning too hard on the top of a puppy crib. Have you heard of this product and do you have opinion of it?

[stef]

Had not heard of Algaecal.

Fixing a nutrient deficit is a good idea, but of limited value if not fixing the stress deficit. The easy stuff only takes you so far.

[s.oliver]

Thank you Stef. Interesting points.

I currently have two clients with great success stories about their bone density. One: in her early sixties. Came to work with me two years ago after her BMD was declining around 7% within a year (partly due to cancer drugs, according to her) and despite doing exercise classes like spin and body pump, she couldn’t stop the decline within that year. After six months barbell training and another bone scan, her BMD hat returned to pre-decline levels. Two: retired doctor in her late fifties. Having worked with her for over a year, her decline in BMD has stopped. She used to be particularly worried about her bones as according to her, osteoporosis runs in her family. She said if it wasn’t for strength training, she’d have been in a very bad state by the age of 70.

So - thank you to all you guys for the great information and teachings you put out there!