Osteo

[Guest guest]

Hi Diane:

Quick point.

You may recall that I had given a fair amount of thought to what kind

of approach I should take to osteo, after getting DXA readings

indicating 'threshold of osteopenia' ............. at least

according to DXA.

Well as it has happened the only exercise I have actually done so far

has been squats. Starting very cautiously, not wanting to break the

bones I am hoping to strengthen. Long story. But it is only recently

that I have been beginning to get up to lifting a serious, for me,

amount of weight. Right now I am lifting 148 pounds, 30 repeats,

~three times a day, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will soon be

raising that by a few more pounds.

But the point of this email is that I recently went for an ultrasound

heel scan. They give you a readout that is the equivalent of the DXA

scores, but measured on you heel bone in comparison with peak bone

mass at age 25(?), and someone same gender same age. Also, like DXA,

not in any way adjusted for body weight. T-scores and Z-scores in

other words. The heel bone is supposed to be a good analogy for the

key hip and lumbar bone mass measures, although I haven't been able to

find any papers confirming the score comparability.

Anyway, the limited amount of lifting I have done to date has raised

my T-score half the way back from where it was to the average 25-year

old's value. The Z-score shows a rise to two-thirds of the way back

to the average value of someone my gender and age.

So, given this, ASSUMING THE SYSTEM IS A GOOD ANALOGY, it seems to me

that squats may work as effectively as hoped.

In order to be especially cautious I started with a very low weight

and if I could do 50 repetitions immediately raised the weight by five

pounds. If I could lift that new weight 50 times I raised it again,

and did this until I couldn't lift the weight 50 times. Then when I

had become strong enough to lift that new weight 50 times I raised the

weight again.

I have now reduced the requirement for raising the amount of weight to

doing 30 repetitions three times the same day. Preferably on all

three days of the week.

This is very conservative. The standard weight training instructions,

for fastest improvement, are to lift the heaviest weight you can lift

at least five and not more than twelve times. So I have been lifting

appreciably less than that.

Hope this helps.

Rodney.