Maintaining Bone Density in My Spine with a Simple (but Time-Consuming) Exercise

In October of 2016 I wrote a post about jumping to retain bone mineral density (BMD) in my hipbones http://bit.ly/2BQlpEC. Jumping seemed to help my hipbones, though I had to increase from 15 minutes twice a day to 30 minutes twice a day to reach the point of “no significant change.” My hips were still osteopenic but the T-scores, comparing my BMD with a young adult, were mostly in the low 2s, whereas my spine was over 3.

Since impact exercise seemed to work for hips, I came up with the following impact exercise for the spine:

Sit on the floor with knees bent up, feet flat on the floor, hands flat on the floor a little behind your hips, fingertips pointing forward. Lift yourself onto your feet and hands, a bit like a reverse table in yoga. Then bring your hips down sharply to bump on the floor. It is important to keep your feet pulled in fairly close to the hips so that you land on your bottom, not your tailbone.

I started doing this exercise with a small clock in front of me, one bump every 30 seconds for 15 minutes twice a day. I now try to do 30 minutes twice a day, though I don’t always get there. I’m experimenting with doing more jumps and bumps per minute to see whether that makes any difference. It took more than a year for me to see improvement, but the last two DEXA reports (3/18 and 3/19) show “no significant change” for the spine as well the most of the hip readings. The T-score for my spine is now in the 2s.

I do these exercises while watching the PBS Newshour (the only news show I can tolerate) and old movies on TV. Two hours is a lot of time to spend and I realize that most people couldn’t or wouldn’t do this. On the other hand, I am post-menopausal. These exercises might work faster for younger people. What really needs to happen is for someone to build on the insights provided by this research, either by finding a way to intensify the exercises or by inventing a machine that would deliver impact to the hip and spine without harming the body.

Doctors continue to remind me that I am at increased risk for fracture and I’m sure that’s true, though I’ve never actually broken a bone in my life. They continue to recommend that I take bisphosphonates. Medical science has known for a long time that these drugs can have horrific side effects, particularly with long-term use (See this 2011 post from the University of British Columbia http://bit.ly/2YDEHrx.) The side effects are supposedly rare, yet I keep hearing stories about women who have experienced them. Perhaps they are not so much rare as under-reported.

People with advanced arthritis or similar disabling conditions will probably not be able to use impact exercises. For those who can, impact exercises offer an alternative to the uncertainties surrounding bisphosphonates.