Key word: preventing weak bones

That means that you start the process sooner rather than later. Though osteoporosis carries a strong genetic component, there are many lifestyle factors within your control that can make or break your bones’ density and strength. While you may think of osteoporosis as a condition of the elderly, the truth is that every choice you make throughout all of your life counts. We can see the importance of this in under-30s: at this point in life, you are still accumulating bone mass; the choices you make at this early stage in life will have ramifications later down the years. 

• Smoking directly interferes with bone accumulation by impeding the hormone calcitonin from building bones. It makes your bones brittle and more likely to fracture. 
• Excessive drinking, especially during adolescence and young adults years, can dramatically affect bone density and increase your risk for osteoporosis in old age. 

So if you needed any more incentive to moderate or quit your bad habits, your future self should be one of them. Let’s take a look at more ways that you can live a preventive lifestyle that supports strong bones even against genetic factors.

Exercising control over your lifestyle

Keeping a healthy weight should be a primary consideration- too heavy and your bones are overburdened; being underweight means you have less bone mass to begin with- any further loss will be harder to bear. As part of keeping a healthy weight, you should aim to perform weight-bearing exercise (yes, that includes purposeful, fast walking) everyday. By strengthening and conditioning your bones, you are less likely to fall and cause an injury like a bone fracture. People focus heavily on ensuring that you get enough calcium in your diet, but what of magnesium? Magnesium is essential for calcium uptake and Americans are often found to be chronically deficient when it comes to this crucial mineral. 

Where does chiropractic fit in? 

Chiropractic supports holistic lifestyles that seek to prevent the myriad musculoskeletal discomforts of old age. While we may not be able to directly prevent bone loss, we can help you enact a lifestyle that highlights and prevents the risk factors for osteoporosis and bone loss. If you are suffering from osteoporosis, our modalities are designed to help you live a more comfortable life despite your condition. Give our office in Sacramento a call to schedule an appointment today.