| What is Osteoporosis? | | | | strength. |
| Osteoporosis literally means 'porous bones'. Our bones | | | | Skipping and Bone Density |
| are made up of a thick outer shell and a strong inner | | | | The Osteoporosis Society in the UK recommends 2 |
| mesh which looks like a honeycomb made up of tiny | | | | to 5 minutes of a physical activity like skipping every |
| struts of bone. Osteoporosis means some of these | | | | day to help prevent osteoporosis. |
| struts become thin or break, making bones more | | | | The benefits of a physical activity like skipping in |
| fragile and prone to fracture. It often remains | | | | relation to osteoporosis are very well established. |
| undetected until a bone is first broken, which | | | | Weight bearing activity that puts stress on the bone |
| commonly occurs in the wrists, hips and spinal bones. | | | | is recommended during adolescence to develop |
| One in two women and one in five men over the | | | | optimum bone mass. It is also beneficial to maintain |
| age of 50 in the UK will fracture a bone, mainly as a | | | | activities like skipping throughout life because it |
| result of osteoporosis. The cause of the disease is | | | | minimises the rate of bone loss and provides the |
| still not fully understood, but research continues to | | | | maximum protection against osteoporosis. Skipping is |
| build up a picture of the factors that influence our | | | | an ideal activity to help prevent Osteoporosis. |
| bone health. Exercise | | | | Older people and skipping. |
| Your skeleton grows stronger if you do regular | | | | Skipping promotes strength, balance and power so |
| weight-bearing exercise. This is any kind of physical | | | | not only does it help guard against osteoporosis it |
| activity where you are supporting the weight of your | | | | could be beneficial for older people because it |
| own body, for example jogging, aerobics, tennis, | | | | potentially helps to prevent falls. Although skipping as |
| dancing or brisk walking. Weight lifting is another good | | | | an activity can reduce the rate of bone loss it is |
| type of bone-building exercise, where the action of | | | | worth pointing out that it cannot reverse advanced |
| the tendons pulling on the bones seems to boost | | | | bone loss. |