Osteoporosis is a condition which affects the bones in our skeleton making them fragile and more prone to break after a minor bump or fall. Our bones are made of a thick outer shell and a strong inner honeycomb mesh of tiny struts of bone. Osteoporosis means some of these struts become thin, which means that the bone can be more easily broken.
If you have osteoporosis you need to be careful of vigorous, high-impact exercise. However, leading an active lifestyle will improve balance, coordination and develop muscle strength. All these can reduce the risk of falling and fracturing a bone. Although it can be difficult to believe when you are experiencing pain caused by osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Society, exercising regularly can actually help to reduce pain. High impact exercises, such as jogging or jumping, are not appropriate for older exercisers, and especially not for people with osteoporosis because they can cause a broken bone. Yet gentle, low impact exercise using a Bellicon mini trampoline enables you to help ease your pain in a gentle, healthy way.
By remaining fit and active your posture and sense of balance may improve, your muscles and stamina will stay stronger for longer and all these can also combine to reduce pain. Using your muscles regularly will make them stronger which can reduce your risk of falling and it's good to strengthen your leg muscles to make you steadier on your feet. Using a Bellicon mini-trampoline helps to strengthen your leg muscles, whilst also helping you to improve your sense of balance; key steps to help prevent falls.
Exercise makes Strong Bones! Intervention studies have shown that activities such as jogging, weight training, rowing, and aerobic exercises are better at improving bone mineral density than than stretching and usual daily activities*2. This supports other studies that have shown that for the older population an increased daily physical activity has resulted in a lreduced risk of hip fracture in the UK*3 as well as in populations with a reduced calcium intake such as the urban Chinese*4. A study lasting 21-year that invloved 3,200 men aged 44 or above found that the men who took part in vigorous physical activity were had a 62% reduced risk of suffering a fractured hip*5.
Bouncing makes Strong Bones! America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have an interested in finding the most efficient way of strengthening muscles and bones, as their astronauts loose bone mineral density and muscle mass when in weightless environment of space. Without the constant gravitational pull both muscles and bones get weaker. They found that one of the most efficient ways of re-conditioning their astronauts was using trampolines . This is thought be due to the increase in gravitional forces experienced by your body due to the acceleration and deceleration experiences at the top and bottom of the bounce. As the reduced gravitational forces allow your bones to become weaker, so the increased forces encourage your body to strengthen muscles and bones..
Bouncing recommended for osteoporosis. As bouncing on a Bellicon Medi swing or Belli-swing is so low impact it can be done by almost anyone. Bellicon have had clients that have found that with ten minutes of daily rebounding, their bone density came back to normal and reversed their Osteopenia within one and a half years. In Germany, medical studies done by the "Aertegesellschaft fuer Praeventiv Medizin" have shown that Rebounding can stop the decrease of bone density due to Osteoporosis.
*1 Bhattacharya A, McCutcheon EP, Shvartz E, Greenleaf JE. Body acceleration distribution and O2 uptake in humans during running and jumping. J Appl Physiol 1980;49(5):881-7. *2 Todd JA, Robinson RJ. Osteoporosis and exercise. Postgrad Med J 2003;79(932):320-3. *3 Cooper C, Barker DJ, Wickham C. Physical activity, muscle strength, and calcium intake in fracture of the proximal femur in britain. BMJ 1988;297(6661):1443-6. *4 Lau E, Donnan S, Barker DJ, Cooper C. Physical activity and calcium intake in fracture of the proximal femur in hong kong. BMJ 1988;297(6661):1441-3. *5 Kujala UM, Kaprio J, Kannus P, Sarna S, Koskenvuo M. Physical activity and osteoporotic hip fracture risk in men. Arch Intern Med 2000;160(5):705-8
German Study In Germany, medical studies done by the "Aertegesellschaft fuer Praeventiv Medizin" have shown that Rebounding can stop the decrease of bone density due to Osteoporosis.
Report On German TV A German television program has reported how Waltraud Mueller, an 86 year old, has fought Osteoporosis with a Bellicon Medi-swing.
Pete says: "After badly fracturing my ankle I really needed some serious rehab. The Bellicon Swing is ideal. It has allowed me to progress my proprioception exercises to a new level while also allowing me to regain the strength in my ankle.
I initially bought a cheap rebounder, but using it was noisy and jarring. The Bellicon Swing is amazing though, when I first bounced on it all I could think was 'WOW'. There really was no comparison!. Everyone who comes and tries it agrees. ”
