i've got low bone mass as result of coeliac thing. i was stunned at this as i climb 2 or 3 times a week and mtb 1 or 2 times.thought i would have better than average bones.  is mtb a weight bearing exercise or not? or can anyone give me any bone building exercises. its doubly complicated as i have osteo in both knees. how can you do impact excercises if you have bad knees?

i've heard that hiking with a heavy pack is good......oooh lovely!

Poor treehugger - you're not doing very well are you?

Cycling is not a weight bearing activity so it shouldn't impact too much on your bones.  Not sure on bone building exercises - try google for some research.

Weight training is good for building bone density though I would have thought climbing would at least help but obviously not.  Hiking with a heavy pack is only good for back ache, annihilated quads and sore feet IMO!  I would have thought hiking up and down hills with a normal day pack would help if your knees would take it.  Running is also good but again may not be an option for you.

The best weight exercises are generally compound exercises like squats and deadlifts etc that target lots of muscle groups, performed with a bar rather than a machine.  Your knee situation does complicate things a little but I'm sure someone that knows what they are doing could modify some weights workouts for you.  If your anything like me the thought of gong to a gym to do weights leaves you cold but I've found Body Pump a bit more motivating in this respect, though not much.

One of the reasons I started running is that it is weight bearing whereas cycling is not, my paternal grandmother had osteoperosis, mainly caused by being practically housebound from her early thirties after a bad fall, its not something I ever, ever want to have.

that excellent info julbags, thanks. I quite like weights, but yes sometimes hard to motivate to go to the gym. think perhaps swapping one of my weekend rides for a serious walk might be the answer, and one of my climbing sessions for the gym. got some calcium supplement too so hopefully that will help too.

but .... you get to this time of life and hope that things will start settling down. but no such luck!

Are you aware if there is anything underlying the issue I would suspect if that is  the case (not being medical at all) that any excercise you do will have limited effect. I was under the impression that this advice was aimed at 'normal' people  and I'm not sure that cycling is classed as a weight bearing excercise. If Chris Boardman can suffer from a form of Osteoporosis when he was at the top of his career - what hope is there for the rest of us.

Hi Treehugger, My mum has osteoporosis and my sister is in the 'zone' just before developing it and she's only 27! I have to have regular scans but am ok so far. Have heard alot of different advice and i'm not sure on the exercise side of it but dont know if you are aware about the 'dairy' debate...there is a lot of research that shows that diary, in particular milk is not good. Some guy explained it to me once and its something to do with the way the fat reacts and it actually drains calcium from bones rather than helps bones! i dont know. just thought would flag up. Apparently you should avoid dairy and get your calcium from soya based foods, kale, almonds and stuff.

Mol        

molly - i am in the 'zone'! however now i am on gluten free diet, they say i might be able to reverse some of the damage, because my bowel will now be able to absorb calcium properly.

oh dear though ... i've been eating so much cheese and yoghurt lately!

do your mum and your sister do any exercise molly? or have they had to stop?

My mother and great grandmother have/had osteoperosis but as a post menapausal result. I have been advised to take Perosis D which is a combination of calcium and the magmesium & vitamin D3 needed to facilitate the bodies absoprtion of the calcium as it runs in female side of my family.  It skipped my grandmother so I am hoping it will skip me too but I am not taking any chances. My mother has regular bone density scans and she goes to the gym 3 times a week but I am not sure if she has been given specific excercices to do... I will ring and ask her and let you know.

I had to give up rugby cos my bck & knees couldnt cope with the high impact forces of running and now i dont run much... so cycling has been my saviour as fingers crossed.. it doesnt hurt any of me.... except my bank balance!

Ok called my mum and she says she was told NOT to do weight bearing excercises but that may be because she had a specific back weakness...she does walking and swimming.. but then she is 64!....and she has horrid chewy calcium tablets every day.

I learnt something new.. i should be taking MY calcium tablets at night as they absorb better and I have been taking mine in the morning! thanks mum!

She also has something called alendronate once a week which also aids absorption.

It seems there are many different reasons people have low bone density and hers is specific to hormones. they offered her HRT which is supposed to counter it but she didnt want to go on that.

Sorry I have been spectalularly unhelpful.. I am sure you got more information with less family history from a Google search!

cheers guys

 as usual you are a collective veritable fount of knowledge.

i'm sure well learn more

hi gayle

no i didn't request a scan. i was recently diagnosed with coeliac disease which affects the absorption of certain nutrients, primarily calcium, so they tend to do a scan routinely to check how bones have been affected. I have had crumbly knees for a long time though i dont know if this is related to the coeliac disease, however is does somewhat complicate the matter of doing impact exercises which is recommended for improving bone density.

I'm sure if you ask for a scan you will be given one. The results take about 6 weeks though. Have you got weak wrists aswell?