By Rachel Ames, MPT and Owner of Missoula OsteoStrong
At OsteoStrong, we are continually communicating to our members that their bone health program needs to be a holistic approach; it’s not just one thing that will optimize bone growth it's all things. In this article, we will talk about the various components of a holistic bone health program. One of the biggest keys to success in reaching our bone health goals is consistency so we will outline a basic structure of bone building habits to be implemented annually, weekly and daily to maximize your bone health program.
First and foremost, it is important to have a baseline and be able to accurately measure your progress. For this reason, our first recommendation is consistent bone screening or testing. It is optimal to do this annually. Physicians recommend a DXA scan every two years, mainly because insurance covers the cost of the tests in that time. With the bone density gains we see at Missoula OsteoStrong, it is ideal to assess in a more timely fashion to better understand how your bone health program is working for YOU and adjust accordingly. With the new Echolight REMS technology coming to Missoula OsteoStrong, you will have access to more convenient, quality and affordable bone screening.
The next component needs to be done on a weekly basis. Consistency in osteogenic loading via OsteoStrong Sessions are essential if you want to make bone density and quality gains. This piece of the program is how our bodies enable new bone growth. It only takes 10 minutes a week to activate those osteoblasts and build new bone.
Osteogenic loading sessions are only once a week because our bodies need time to recover. To aid in the recovery process, OsteoStrong has recovery modalities that increase our cells capacity to heal and grow. These technologies optimize our bodies at the cellular level, allowing them to work most efficiently and effectively. This is the reason we strongly recommend that they are incorporated into your weekly sessions. We find that our members who use all four of our recovery modalities have the best results and their impact is evident as they are becoming mainstream and popping up across our area. We have been able to provide access to recovery modalities at a competitive price point for our members because we feel they are so important to a holistic bone health program. Let’s review what the recovery modalities are and how they help us at the cellular level.
Our recovery modalities work well independently but even better in conjunction with each other and therefore we highly recommend using all four. Here’s how they work together for bone health... PEMF is a technology created by NASA that charges your cells like a battery, allowing nutrients, minerals, etc. to enter the cells by improving your cell membrane permeability. Red light therapy, another NASA technology, assists the mitochondria (the powerhouse inside the cell) to improve ATP production to energize the cells. Both of these modalities promote gut health and reduce overall inflammation that can be caused by poor nutrition and other depleting external/environmental factors (dirty EMFs, mold, chemicals, etc). Lastly, PEMF and red light therapy trigger our cells to release toxins. Next compression therapy and hydromassage are used to flush toxins out of your body while providing a happy endorphin experience. Some of our members say that hydromassage is the “icing on the cake” of their weekly OsteoStrong Session experience. All of these modalities can optimize the cell's health to achieve your optimal human state! You can learn more about these modalities and the specific uses on our website here.
Lastly, since bones also act as a reservoir for minerals, storing 99% of calcium and 85% of phosphorus in our body, proper DAILY nutrition is vital. Nutrition provides our bodies with the ingredients it needs to support new bone growth and thus we need to ensure that we have a sufficient support system in place. Proper nutrition and supplementation are important on a daily basis. To learn more about which nutrients, minerals and more you need to have to optimally feed your bones, open our Bone Health Nutritional Guidance here.
Supplementation is a component of nutrition and Rachel has done extensive work to research the products that she feels will give you the best support and boost. We are already finding our members who use these are seeing great results. Inquire with your session coach today to learn about some great options to add to your Holistic Bone Health Program!
More nutritional education is coming your way this Fall! We are excited to announce that our Strong Talk Series will continue this Fall with Sara Engberg, Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist on November 5th. Look for more information on this talk coming soon.
We hope that this article helps simplify how you think about your bone health program as we outlined the key components to think about annually, weekly and daily. As a recap, a holistic bone health program should be consistent and contain the following components:
Annual bone screening
Weekly Osteogenic Loading Session and Recovery Modality usage for for optimal results
Proper daily nutritional/supplementation intake
This concludes our four-part series on Assessing the Health of Our Bones for Osteoporosis Awareness Month. Please share this information with others and come back to it if you need it as a reference in the future. We hope that you have learned a lot in this series and continue to bring your questions to us in the center as we are always here to help!
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