How to prevent a fracture as you age

As we age our bones can become more brittle and susceptible to breaks and fractures. This could be due to Osteoporosis, a vitamin D or calcium deficiency to name a few.

While you can takes steps to eliminate the risks by watching your step, eliminating household obstacles and keeping items in familiar places to avoid tripping, there are other options, too.

Move today so you can move more tomorrow

The mindset that moving less as you age is natural or healthy has been well and truly debunked – moving more is definitely healthy, but the emphasis should be on taking a tailored and careful approach.

Whether you have moved a lot or a little in the past, today is the best time to start again – for the sake of being able to move tomorrow and keep your independence as you age.

All about mobility and balance

Obviously the best way to avoid a fracture from a fall is to, dare we say it – avoid falling, but it’s more complicated than that when you factor in what you can proactively do to avoid falling.

The best way you can avoid a fall is by increasing your mobility, growing your leg muscle strength, honing your balance and enhancing your coordination skills on a daily basis.

We’re not talking about walking around with a book balanced on your head, rather we’re talking about a systematic series of daily activities that train your body in a targeted anti-fall approach.

Grow your bones

While there are no guarantees you won’t ever fall over, your dedicated anti-fall work-out will also reduce your risk of fracture if you do.

At The Bone Clinic, some of our patients have reported falling over for reasons out of their control – slippery stairs, grandchildren’s toys, family pets in doorways – but most report only limited injuries, such as bruising or scrapes, rather than the more serious outcome of breaking of a bone.

This is because while they are increasing their muscle strength, mobility and stability, they are also growing stronger bones – even our 70 plus year old patients are returning positive bone growth figures.

That means, even if you are unfortunate enough to experience a fall, your bone exercise efforts will be rewarded with a reduced recovery time, rather than surgical intervention or costly hospital stays and rehabilitation.

What does an anti-fall program look like?

An anti-fall program should cover the following elements:

• Resistance training for muscle strength
• Weight bearing impact for bone loading
• Mobility training for hips, shoulders, knees and ankles
• Incorporate balance activities, starting with simple tasks and progressing to more complex sequences

Tell us, how do you strengthen your bones and avoid falls?