Hi Dr Kim

I'm a bit concerned about osteoporosis. My paternal grandmother had it. I've heard that you are meant to do weight bearing exercise to strengthen your bones against osteoporosis. I try and swim a mile once or twice a week and ride anywhere between 10 and 100 miles a week, but I don't think either swimming or cycling are weight bearing.

I walk a bit - if only a mile or so in my lunch break and some occassional hill walking - maybe 5 or 6 days a year. I go to the gym occassionally - mostly in winter, and maybe three times a week , to get fit for skiing - but find it very boring and tend not to go when the weather is nice enough to do something less boring instead.

I don't drink milk, but I do drink soya and eat lots of yoghurt and a little cheese. I'm 35 and have arthiritis in my left big toe knuckle - I don't know if this is relevant (My GP diagnosed it but it has never been medicated.)

So my questions are - is osteoporosis heriditary? Should I take calcium supplements? Should I do more weight bearing exercise? Will the arthiritis in my toe spread elsewhere ? Can I do anything to stop it?

Thanks, Alice - not getting any younger!

I'd be interested in the answer to this as well. I've heard the same about weight bearing exercise especially over a certain age, not sure what the age is though. I've started doing at least one weights class a week (Body Pump) don't really know if it does anything. I find it quite boring also which is why I do a class as opposed to going into the gym on my own.
I take glycosamine (spelt incorrectly!) which is allegedly good for arthritis type conditions, and cod liver oil.
Do they work ? They seem to.

I was told by my chiropractor and docs that low resistant weights are good for maintaining and slowing down the degenartion of my knackered back??!!

Whats wrong with your back is it through accident or wear and tear ?

Caro, I've heard the age mentioned variously as 35, 40 and "any woman over 30 should do some resistance training". My paternal grandmother had very bad osteoperosis and it worries me, however her osteoperosis was really bad due to the fact she slipped on ice in her twenties and shattered her hip, was more or less housebound from then on. A dietician friend of mine told me I was higly unlikely to get osteoperosis due to my lifestyle but a bit of weights would probably help.

One of the reasons I started running was to give my joints a pounding as I was only doing cycling and a bit of climbing for a couple of years. I also have started doing weights again at home. I have done them on and off for about 10 years, I also hate going to the gym so I do free weight mutiple joint exercises at home (squats, deadlifts, chest presses etc) for about 20 minute sessions else I get bored. I also tend to do higher weight low rep stuff for the same reason.

When I do weights consistently I find it helps with bike and (rock) climbing strength and being a girlie I'm not going to pack much muscle on so can get all the benefits without the bulk. Still generally a bit boring though....

I recently started taking Glucosamine on the advice of my Chiro due to my joint hypermobility, its a long term thing but I've noticed my knees don't crack anywhere near as much as they did before (elbows still give stonkers though) so its doing something. I've been taking fish oil for years as I can't stomach oily fish, don't think it does that much for my joints or it may be they'd be a lot worse without them.

If you want some really good and amusing advice on women why they should do weight training have a look at the stumptuous site, it inspired me to dust off the dumbells...

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php

I thought that even tough calcium is a key factor in the upkeep of bones, but if you take too much you can't absorb it. Along with your daily recommended intake of calcium, other vitamins / minerals you may need are magnesium, vitamin D, A and B

vitamin B - green veg, avocado, oily fish etc
vitamin A - cheese and fish
vitamin D - fish and eggs
magnesium - rice, beans, nuts, green veg

I don't have osteoporosis (or a history of it) but have been told I have "low bone density" - that is partly why I have started eating fish after 19years of being a veggie - oh and blueberries (vitamin A) - which isn't too much of a chore :-)