Fitness on the Wire: Weight Bearing and Impact
Submitted by Jerry Vance on Sun, 02/13/2011 - 11:36am
There are two exercise terms; weight bearing and impact that can be confusing to the new exercise student.
For those of you who are in the higher age bracket, bones and the chance of osteoporosis is a number one priority. You lose one percent of your bone mass each year and as much as three percent for women after menopause. Lack of proper diet, genetics, sedentary lifestyles and deficient calcium absorption add to the problem. Now, as to impact being the key to retaining bone mass, there are different opinions on this subject. Impact defines itself in exercise as both feet off the floor at the same time; as in jumping jacks, and ballet or basketball leaps. All good forms of exercise to help dense your bone structure; but what can you do to protect your structure when you are too old for those leaps? Loading the bone is important and you can do that with something as simple as a good thirty minute walk each day. It’s that overused phrase “weight bearing exercise”, meaning you are putting your weight plus gravity on each leg as you walk. That’s the easy part of the answer
Exercise forms that are not weight bearing, (and I’m going to get challenged again) are bicycling, yoga, and ti-che, some forms of karate, exercise trampolines, and swimming. These are all excellent forms of exercise but not necessarily impact ones. When the foot comes down on a surface that gives, you lose the loading of the bone and rebound or push off is eased.
Does this mean you throw out these excellent forms of exercise? Of course not, any form of exercise or activity that you enjoy, any muscle or ligament that you use will work the bone. Just standing still can help bone density because it puts weight with gravity on your whole bone structure.
Each type of fitness has its rewards. Stress relief, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance and muscle strengthening are a few of the benefits with any form of movement. If you add a little walking as you age you will be doing a lot for maintaining a healthy bone structure. Remember that a well balanced diet and exercise are the two key factors. And don’t give up on those non impact sports. Ask your doctor for a bone scan, find out where you are today and use it as a comparison for tomorrow.
— Carson City fitness writer and health advocate Jerry Vance is a regular contributor to Carson Now.
