How Does The Balance Beam Exercises Fight Osteoporosis?

Flexibility exercises should also be part of any good aerobic or any good strength training program. During a warm up or a cool down, you should stretch your muscles. With the elderly in particular, balance training exercises, such as walking on a low balance beam, can actually improve coordination and reduce the likelihood of falls.

Another important point is finding the right exercise for you. Aerobic activity is the most important exercise for young and middle-aged adults because it helps with weight control and cardiovascular health. Somewhere in our late 40s or 50s strengthening exercises become equally important. By the 70s, 80s and 90s, however, strengthening exercises become even more important than aerobic activity because of their ability to reduce frailty, reduce the risks of having falls, and generally help people maintain their independence.

Much of my research has focused on osteoporosis, or loss of bone density, which causes the bones to become brittle. Most women experience osteoporosis as they age. A couple of years ago, we did a study of women, not on estrogen replacement therapy, between the ages of 50 and 70. Half of the women did strength training in a laboratory for two days a week for one year and half went about their normal activities.

All of the women had been quite inactive. After one year, the women on strength training were 75 percent stronger. They gained an average of three pounds of skeletal muscle and lost three pounds of body fat. Their balance improved by 14 percent and their bone density increased by about one percent in the spine and the hip. The women in the control group, however, experienced the normal age-related declines in bone density of about two to 2.5 percent in the spine and the hip.

So, do get yourself a simple balance beam and start simple balance beam exercises no!