The best exercises for your bones

Similar to every aspect of your body, your bones require regular maintenance for optimal health and strength.

Exercise stands as a fundamental element in bone care and the prevention of falls. By proactively engaging in these measures, you can contribute to preserving your existing bone mass and potentially even enhancing it, thereby decreasing the likelihood of debilitating fractures in the future.

Specific forms of exercise can boost muscle mass, subsequently improving strength, muscle control, balance, and coordination. Effective balance and coordination can be the determining factors between experiencing a fall resulting in a fracture and maintaining an upright stance. 

According to an article published by Harvard Medical School, substantial evidence indicates that consistent physical activity can decrease falls by nearly a third in older adults with a heightened risk of falling.

All exercises for bone strength have one or more of the following attributes:

Provide resistance: In these exercise modalities, you engage your muscles in a challenge by working against various forms of resistance, such as dumbbells, elastic bands, or even your own body weight. Resistance exercises, including traditional strength training, depend on muscle contractions that pull on bones, prompting them to undergo stimulation and increase in mass.

Weight-bearing. Weight-bearing exercise involves activities like running, walking, dancing, hiking, climbing stairs, and sports like tennis or basketball, where you carry your body weight against gravity. In contrast, non-weight-bearing activities like swimming or cycling are supported by water or a bicycle, and they don't provide the same bone-strengthening effect from gravitational resistance.

Provide impact. When you land a jump or pound the ground with each step as you run, you mul­tiply the weight-bearing effect of gravity. That's why higher-impact activities generally have a more pro­nounced effect on bone than lower-impact exercises.

Higher velocity. Impact can be increased even more as your speed increases. For example, jogging or fast-paced aerobics will do more to strengthen your bones than a leisurely stroll or slow callisthenics exercises.

Involve sudden changes of direction. Changing direction while you're moving also appears to benefit bones. When researchers reviewed bone strength in the hips of a variety of athletes, they found that those who played sports such as soccer and squash, which involve rapid turns and start-and-stop actions, had bone strength similar to those who did high-impact sports, like triple jumpers and high jumpers—and they all had greater bone density than long-distance runners.

Improve balance. Exercises that target balance may not be the best for building bone, but they will help keep you from falling, so they also serve a bone-protecting function.