When it comes to bone health, it's use it or lose it.

Physical activity is considered a widely accessible, low-cost, and highly modifiable

contributor to bone health. Exercise transmits forces through

the scales and generating signals that are detected by our bone-building cells. This is why the

National Osterosis Foundation, International Osteoporosis Foundation, and other agencies recommend

weight-bearing exercise for the prevention of osteoporosis. These include high-impact exercise such as jumping, aerobics, and running,

as well as lower-impact exercises like walking and weight training

to create those mechanical signals that spark bone growth.

But sufficient intensity and frequency are critical.

The large variation in bone benefit across different studies,

from negligible changes to substantial improvements in bone mineral density, have been attributed

to the adequacy of the exercise regime. To improve measures of bone strength at the spine

and hip, the most effective exercise training protocol appears to be a combination of progressive

resistance and impact training at moderate to be a combination of progressive resistance

and impact training at moderate to high intensity. Low-intensity exercise does not appear to be

sufficient. For example, while regular walking is often prescribed to prevent osteoporosis,

it appears to offer limited benefit for bone loss prevention. On its own, walking has no significant effect

on bone-mental density of the spine, wrist, or overall skeleton, but it has been shown to significantly

improve hip bone density in studies that have lasted more than six months. More effective would

be brisk walking, walking with a weighted vest, or combining walking with more vigorous

exercises such as jogging, stepping, or stair climbing. Non-impact activities such as cycling or

swimming have been shown to have little or no effect. An elegant study to determine the optimum

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