What to Do & Not Do When You Have Osteoporosis
Some of the recommendations for medically managing osteoporosis and osteopenia are muscle strengthening and weight exercises, vitamin D and calcium supplements, giving up smoking and alcohol, increasing water intake, etc.
While exercise is recommended, it is important to know that not all types of exercises will help. In fact, some of them will make the condition worse. Kindly take note of some of the dos and don’ts if you have osteoporosis.
Of course, you can do yoga! However, not all poses are safe for you. The following are movements that are safe for yoga students with osteoporosis.
1. Neutral spine poses are great. Just make sure you align your spine while at it
2. Practice yoga poses for balance. However, limit your risk of falling by holding on to something or do a variation until you have enough confidence in your stability
3. When transitioning from one pose to another, do so as slowly as possible. You might risk a fall or bone shearing if you change direction too quickly
4. Chest opening poses are beneficial as they move the thoracic spine inward
5. Do twists and mild side bends
Here are some moves you should avoid when managing osteoporosis.
1. Don’t do inversion poses
2. Don’t do compressive poses; Marichi’s pose, Reverse Warrior and other similar poses that make you twist and side-bend too deeply should not be a part of your routine
3. Don’t do deep backbends like Camel, Wheel or Upward Facing Dog
