Asanas and Osteoporosis

What is Osteoporosis

Over the course of our lives, bones constantly break down and rebuild. In the case of osteoporosis, bones break down at a faster speed than they rebuild.

Osteoporosis translates to mean “porous bone” and is a condition where bones get weak and brittle. You can imagine the internal structure of a bone to be like a honeycomb. In the case of osteoporosis, the spaces within the bone get bigger and the walls between the spaces get thinner. This makes the bone weaker and more susceptible to breaks and fractures. The most common places osteoporosis fractures happen are the hip, wrist, and spine.

One in five women and one in twenty men over the age of 50 will develop osteoporosis. It is thought women are more susceptible because they tend to have thinner skeletal structure to begin with, in addition to menopause lowering estrogen production which impacts bone density.

Some people call osteoporosis the “silent disease” because someone may not realize they have the condition until their first fracture.

How can Yoga help

Yoga is a mind-body practice that links breathing practices with postures (called asanas in Sanskrit) that develop physical strength, flexibility, and balance. Yoga can be a helpful tool in preventative and management care of osteoporosis for several reasons. Some examples are:

• Lowers anxiety and stress levels  

  The breath awareness and overall mindful focus of yoga is famous for lowering stress levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone that heightens when we are experiencing stress, and since cortisol breaks down bone, chronic stress can impact our bones over time.

• Greater balance and flexibility  

  Since falls are a common cause of fracture for those with osteoporosis, generating better balance and flexibility makes tripping and falling less likely.

• Raises Bone Mineral Density (BMD)  

  Researchers from NYU, Rockefeller University, Columbia University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital conducted a 10-year study that measured how practicing yoga for 12 minutes daily would impact participant’s BMD. Between 2005 and 2015, 227 volunteers successfully participated in the study and 83% had already been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia (lower than normal BMD, but not yet considered osteoporosis). Overall, the bone quality in the participant’s spine and femur (thigh bone) improved. This was a helpful finding since it proved yoga is an effective tool in reversing bone loss in patients with low BMD.  To learn the poses used in this study, be sure to watch the video from Cory below.