Yoga for Osteoporosis - An Interview with Loren Fishman MD and Ellen Saltonstall on Yoga U

By: Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D.

Excerpt:

Eva Norlyk Smith: How does yoga help counteract osteoporosis?

Loren Fishman: Well, let me count the ways. Most people have heard of Wolf’s law: The architectonic, the structural support of bone, follows the lines of force to which that bone is exposed. When bone cells get stimulated through being compressed or twisted or elongated, they produce more bone mass until that bone gets strong enough, to resist the pressure. At that point the pressure no longer distorts the bone, and the bone-making cells stop making more. What a wonderful feedback system.   In osteoporosis, the bones bend more, so pressure is more effective in stimulating the cells to make bone.

In short, like weight training, yoga works by stressing the bone.  Yoga stimulates the bone with isometric contraction at almost every conceivable angle for long periods of time.

Ellen Saltonstall: What is often overlooked in modern weight-training exercise and certainly when evaluating the effects of osteoporosis drugs, is that there is a difference between structure and density. Dexa scans will get a measurement of density, but they tell us nothing about thestructure of the bone. Dense bone mass on its own doesn’t necessarily provide protection against fractures; unless the bone fibers are laid down in a way to provide greater strength, the bone mass is not going to be very stable It’s like the difference between a pile of steel beams and the George Washington Bridge. A bridge has been planned by engineers, so the beams, when put together, create a well-organized, completely integrated structure, which can sustain huge amounts of weight—because of the strength created by the structural interconnections.

In short, density and structure both matter for bone health.  But unfortunately, we don’t have convenient ways to measure the structure of bones as of yet. We do have straightforward ways to measure the density. The osteoporosis drugs do work, they reduce the risk of fracture considerably, but the functional limitations of just building bone mass without proper structure and strength are completely ignored.