Risk factors include being overweight, smoking and drinking, but as Linda discovered, clean living people can be affected too \u2013 and experts are warning that being very slim can be bad for bone strength as you age. <\/p>\n
Linda had slipped and fell on a tiled floor while on holiday in Tenerife, shattering her wrist, something which required surgery while abroad. Once back home, her GP noted that she shouldn\u2019t have suffered such an injury just from falling over, so referred her for a bone density (DXA) scan which confirmed an osteoporosis diagnosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n She was surprised, though she had gone through menopause early and her mother had osteoporosis, too. Once the initial shock of the diagnosis<\/a> settled, she started looking into what else she could do.<\/p>\n As well as being prescribed osteoporosis medication<\/a>, she made some lifestyle changes. \u201cAs a teacher, you don\u2019t always join in classes as much, so I started exercising more, taking two dance classes a week and I also started seeing a personal trainer once a week, who encourages me to lift heavy weights,\u201d Linda says. \u201cFor the last 19 years I\u2019ve taught Pilates, which is weight-bearing, but it\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n She also focused on upping her calcium intake. \u201cI\u2019ve never been a great lover of cheese but I started eating cottage cheese. I also try to include protein in all my meals and have started taking a D3 and K2 supplement, as well as magnesium.\u201d<\/p>\n After two years, Linda had a follow-up scan, which showed a big improvement, \u201cso I went into osteopenia which is the precursor to osteoporosis.\u201d Her personal experience has inspired her to encourage her own clients, many of whom are women over 50, to consider strength training<\/a> as a way to prevent the condition. \u201cAt my studio, we now offer a \u2018Strong Bones\u2019 class which starts with lighter weights and gradually builds up over six weeks,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n Jenny Eastwood was 47 when she decided to start taking bioidentical hormones to manage the hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms she was experiencing. \u201cThe private clinic I was using recommended a whole bunch of blood tests, and because I was very slim they recommended I have a DXA scan, which showed I had osteopenia.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, her diagnosis was unexpected. \u201cI eat healthily, plenty of fruit and veg, not very much processed food or any takeaways. I don\u2019t drink too much, don\u2019t smoke. But I\u2019ve always been very skinny since I was a girl \u2013 my BMI probably sits around 19 [the range considered healthy is 18.5 to 24.9], it doesn\u2019t really tend to move much no matter what I eat.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to starting estradiol, she embarked on a strength programme that focused on weights and exercises with her trainer David Vrettos, a sports injury rehab specialist and coach at Rehab PT<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m no great goddess of sport but for 10 years I\u2019ve done one hour of weights a week with Dave either in the gym or on Zoom \u2013 it might be squats or hip thrusts or chest presses.\u201d<\/p>\n Jenny says she has now reversed her osteopenia. \u201cI\u2019ve had two scans since my initial diagnosis, the first showed an improvement and now I\u2019m in the normal range and my most recent scan also shows that the inside strength<\/a> of my bone is really high.\u201d Her strength training has had a positive impact on both her body and mind, she says. \u201cI\u2019ve got lovely toned legs and arms and stomach so that\u2019s quite nice!\u201d<\/p>\n Vrettos says that he sees a number of female clients in clinic, who, like Jenny, have a lower BMI and have received osteoporosis or osteopenia diagnoses. \u201cHaving a low BMI essentially means you\u2019ve got less mechanical load on your skeleton, and mechanical load stimulates bone growth. Your bones are constantly in a state of breakdown and building \u2013 you replace your skeleton every eight to 10 years. From the age of about 30 you gradually start to lose more than you gain, and this accelerates over the age of 50 for women because of the menopause,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n \u201cIt can be quite a scary diagnosis and people often think they can\u2019t do anything about it, but you absolutely can through a range of lifestyle interventions,\u201d he adds. Along with weights, impact exercises like running<\/a>, jumping, hopping and skipping are important, too. \u201cThese movements put between three and 10 times your body weight through your skeleton as you hit the floor, so that creates more mechanical load,\u201d Vrettos says. \u201cBut obviously, it depends on someone\u2019s fracture risk, for those with a higher risk we use other interventions and wait for their density to improve before introducing these things.\u201d Finally, exercises that improve balance are the other key component, to reduce the chances of falls and fractures.<\/p>\n Julia Thomson, osteoporosis nurse manager for the Royal Osteoporosis Society<\/a>, explains that risk factors for the condition can be divided into two camps: \u201cThose that you can do something about and those that you can\u2019t.\u201d Starting with the latter, this encompasses things like genes, which determine the strength of your skeleton, but also having a family history of osteoporosis increases your risk, also age, and your biological sex \u2013 osteoporosis is more common in women than men, for two reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cFirstly, as women, we don\u2019t build as strong a bone strength as men during childhood and adolescence. Secondly, women go through a more rapid period of bone loss in the five years around menopause where we lose the protective effect of oestrogen,\u201d Thomson says. Oestrogen is important for keeping bone density stable and maintaining bone strength. \u201cThis is why oestrogen is used in hormone replacement therapy as a treatment for osteoporosis after the menopause.\u201d<\/p>\n Certain medical conditions \u2013 such as rheumatoid arthritis, parathyroid disease, Crohn\u2019s, and coeliac disease<\/a> \u2013 can increase your osteoporosis risk too, as can some medications, including steroids and anti-epileptic medication.<\/p>\n Then there are risk factors that you can influence to some extent, including smoking or the amount of alcohol you drink (as both can impact the absorption of essential nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D, among other things) and being underweight or overweight. \u201cIf you have a lower body weight naturally, you won\u2019t have so much bone tissue in the bank, so when you get to menopause you might lose from a lower point and may potentially find yourself breaking bones more easily from a relatively younger age,\u201d Thomson says. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean everyone with a lower body weight needs to rush out and see their GP, but it could be worth using our online checker to assess your risk.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_272396093.jpg\")
Linda Marshall was diagnosed with osteoporosis after breaking her wrist on holiday, and embarked on a weights exercise regimen to improve her bone health<\/p>\n