Taking care of our bones

Recently, I had my annual health screening. Everything was fine and dandy except for one aspect - my bones. My bone density readings classified me as having osteopenia. That's basically the stage before osteoperosis. In simple terms, my doctor told me that if I did not do anything and left things as they were, I would have osteoperosis by the time I hit my late 40s.

Wow, scary. Up to now, I am still unsure if it is as serious as she makes it out to be, as my readings are osteopenic for only one hip (at -1.2). My spine and all are normal. Normal levels are from -1 and above. But it serves as a good wake up call. On hindsight, I think I do have a number of the risk factors for low bone mass.

* Low body weight - I've always been one of the lightest around.... at a grand weight of 43 kg before and after two pregnancies. No more, no less. I always joked that I had light bones, who would have known it was actually true!
* Low calcium intake - Never really been a milk guzzler. I've known many who drink their milk in the morning and evening since they were young. My parents never bugged me to, and so I drank when I wanted to - at best occasionally. During my second pregnancy, I didn't even take calcium supplements while breastfeeding, tho' I did while pregnant and while breastfeeding my first child. Calcium as an adult was mainly through my milk tea and cereal and vegetables - so I was probably way short of my min daily requirements of at least 1000mg.
* Lack of weight bearing exercises Meaning exercise that puts pressure on the bones and causes them to grow, increase in bone mass. Well, while I did run pretty regularly in the uni, the past years have seen me swimming alot ( as I prefer the water) But swimming is definitely not weight bearing!

So, anyway,it was actually a good thing that I took the bone density test. It's not something many people do and I only did it as it was part of the whole health screening package. In fact, I almost did not do it, as it never occurred to me that I should worry about my bones at my age.

So, just want to advise all you mummies and ladies out there to make sure you get your calcium ( at least 1000 mg/a day) if you are pregnant or nursing. And get your weight bearing exercise. We all hit our peak bone density mass at age 30, so its important to make sure it's as high as possible by the time you reach this age. And from there on, we start losing bone mass and if you were low to begin with, chances of getting osteopenia or osteoperosis are higher.

My action plan now to up my bone mass includes:
* Calcium pills I take two 500 mg pills a day, since my bones are so pathetic. I was also supposed to take a bone -growing medication but I put that on hold temporarily as I may be trying for a third and I can't take that if I am.
* Running with stair climbing for 1/2 hour (2 times a week, working up to 3)
* Osteloates or modified pilates with more weight bearing involved once a week. I love pilates at Sky Pilates and contrary to popular opinion, pilates can be weight bearing. We just do exercises with much more resistance and weight, and avoid most forms of bending forward to prevent injury to the spine.
*Light weights and resistance band exercises ( 2- 3 times a week... this one I am still working on.. only managing once a week for now)
*Loads of calcium enriched foods. This includes 1-2 cups of milk a day, calcium enriched snacks like figs and apricots, spinach, sweet potato, yoghurt. I've also made sure I'm always eating well and not skipping meals.

I hope my next scan in Feb will reveal better results! As for now, all my milk drinking has made me put on 2 kg in the past two months so I'm now 45.2kg - my heaviest non pregnant weight ever! I've now discovered LOW FAT Anlene Calcium Enriched milk ( It's great as a small packet packs in 500mg calcim, 4x the amount of calcium from a regular glass) So, I dont have to drink so much! Realised that skinny as I am, loads of full cream milk will make anybody fat. :( Oops!

So ladies, take care of your bones. Don't take them for granted. There are no symptoms for osteoperosis except when you have your first fracture! In fact, get a bone density test during your next health screening. It's a painless easy test like an X Ray. They just lay you down and do a scan of your spine and hips. Takes about 10 mins in all. Prevention is better than the cure!