Has anyone found an exercise based program proven to work?

Posted by ans @ans, Jan 21, 2024

To All-Very important information shared by Belinda Beck from- theboneclinic- goggle that- based in Australia- yesterday in the Osteoporosis Summit that has been sited here going on this week. The Liftmor trials, which she was in charge of , has been tracking people for over 10 years put a program into place called Onero, based on that thinking and the results are in and impressive. It works to improve bone mass. It's based on HiRIT -( I believe the acronym is to denote High Intensity Resistance Impact Training). It can be safe and effective led BY PEOPLE that have been trained. She emphasized NOT to do these exercises without SUPERVISION. Sherri Betz's exercise programs are built off this thinking. Beck said to grow bone you need specific, targeted training. They watched people over many years in the Liftmor trials and then went one step further to set up a clinic in the real world to test it out . As she explained, its based on one lifting 85% of what you can lift in one repetition. So that is a lot, but everyone is different. For one it might mean starting with a broom stick , for another it could mean 2o lbs or more. The program is individualized for each person. Each person receives a 2 1/2 hr baseline assessment. A very important thing she commented on that at first they were confused about was why the femoral neck didn't change the BMD score much- but hot off the press this week- they have a 3-D testing device in their clinic and it revealed that the thickness of the cortex increased particularly where the femoral neck fracture usually starts. and further the proximal head of the femur cortex gets thicker along with the trabeculae . so therefore the shape of the bones improve and there's increased internal hip support. She did go over some of the basic criteria to do this Onero program , but I won't bore you with those details , except to say that most people can participate in this treatment. I will direct you to go to a podcast with Margie Bissinger PT where she interviews Dr. Claudia Tamas, she is an Onero trained clinician that heads up a medical clinic in NJ. This information is new and there are very few clinics in the US that offer this . So get out there and talk about it, maybe share this info with your general dr, endo, PT office, etc. so it can begin to be offered in more places!!! That was a lot , but hope that this gives you all some hope!! Beck said they are changing the idea that instead of meds, exercise can be the first line of defense against osteoporosis issues!! Good Luck to all on your own path!

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@wynn00001

I had no luck finding a physio to supervise me in Onero, and I couldn't wait for it to come to Canada while I watched my bone density decrease steadily. I began a program called Starting Strength six months ago. It uses four exercises, squat, deadlift, overhead press and bench press. I had an Echolight bone scan just before I started and had another one today. I'm amazed at the results. I'm no longer osteoporotic, I've made it back to osteopenia. L2 went from -3.6 to -1.6 in just six months. No meds, no strontium, no HRT, just heavy weights and careful, one-on-one coaching. The downside - it's expensive. But I expect Onero will also be expensive in North America.

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That is really exciting! Congrats!!! May I ask how heavy you were lifting? I started a few months ago (worked with a physical therapist to learn correct form) and have slowly progressed to about 75 lb back squats and 80 lb deadlifts. I intend to keep increasing, soon under the supervision of an Onero-trained therapist, but wondering just how heavy you need to go to get good results. A nice side effect was that I discovered that I really enjoy weightlifting!

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@nancy9 I had to dial back the weight in Oct/Nov due to hip pain (resolved now, physio gave me some internal/external rotation exercises), but I had worked up to 90 lb back squats, 130 lb deadlifts at the time I had the last Echolight test. I'm back to those weights now. I hope people are not put off by the thought of lifting heavy weights. It really depends so much on proper technique and I think almost everyone who starts weight-lifting is surprised by how much they can lift.

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@nancy9

That is really exciting! Congrats!!! May I ask how heavy you were lifting? I started a few months ago (worked with a physical therapist to learn correct form) and have slowly progressed to about 75 lb back squats and 80 lb deadlifts. I intend to keep increasing, soon under the supervision of an Onero-trained therapist, but wondering just how heavy you need to go to get good results. A nice side effect was that I discovered that I really enjoy weightlifting!

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@nancy9 p.s. I too discovered I love weight-lifting! And it's so satisfying to see those numbers creeping up!

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@wynn00001

@nancy9 p.s. I too discovered I love weight-lifting! And it's so satisfying to see those numbers creeping up!

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Thank you! That’s impressive! I hope to get my weights up to that level as well. I’m working around arthritis in one knee and in my lower back, so proceeding somewhat cautiously. It’s really empowering after all the scariness of a low bone density diagnosis. Hoping to get another dexa scan this summer to check on progress.

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@wynn00001

No luck with the physios I've contacted, but my latest plan is to write to the YWCA because they are particularly focused on women and have great gym facilities. In the meantime, I stumbled across a program called Starting Strength. It's very similar to Onero, but without the jump. I figure I can do heel drops or something on my own to get the effect of the jump. Starting Strength is almost entirely in the US, but there is a single trained coach in Canada and he happens to be in my city. I'm training one-on-one so it's expensive. More than I can afford really, but I'm extremely motivated to do this.

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I'm 68 & participate in Silver Sneakers & Aquatic exercise. My recent Dexa scan showed an improvement from a T Score in 2022 of -2.7 to -2.2 which is considered osteopenia. I did one round of Reclast in 2023. Now was exercise responsible for the improvement. I don't know but it didn't hurt.

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