I have sent this question to 2 of the most reputable forum members (in my opinion) and just decided that it may be worthwhile to create a thread also. I have been searching quite a bit, and haven’t turned up much in response to my inquiry, so perhaps this will help someone like me in the future (whether involved in research too, or just for personal knowledge).
"I was hoping you could help me with a question I have. My background is Kinesiology, however I have been practicing yoga (primarily power styles) and am becoming curious as to how well it is able to prevent osteoporosis. I have read countless articles / information, and agree entirely that yoga will help build bone mineral density in sedentary, elderly, and osteo afflicted populations…however, what about in (for example) a healthy 30 year old female that has been practicing for several years? I use this example because my understanding of maintaining bone mineral density is that if this is your goal, you must acheive your bones minimal esssential strain (10% of force required to cause a fracture) in order for the activity to be effective. This combined with the concept of progressive overload (that, as your bones get stronger, that 10% should also increase, and so in turn should the resistance of the exercise to continue promoting further positive changes to bone mineral density) leads me to say that with yoga, the resistance tends to be relatively the same (your body weight), aside from the difference experienced as your pose / flexibility improves and allows you to exert perhaps more force over the bone (however, I am assuming this is somewhat negligible, as body weight shouldn’t change over the joint drastically due to these very slow progressive pose improvements). I guess where I am hung up, is:
- Even if we plateau at the BMD developed from our body weight in yoga, who is to say that this plateaued level isn’t sufficient for preventation? I have not been able to dig up any research on this for my population of interest (healthy 30 year old female).
- At the same time, I have noticed that power yogas often boast of their ability to treat osteoporosis in a great non-impact way…but again, what about in terms of preventation for a person that has been a long time yogi?
Ultimately, do you see yoga / power yoga as a long term effective method for the preventation of osteoporisis in a healthy 30 year old female population? Or do you feel greater impact / resistance is a neccesity for long term gains? Are you aware of any studies / research on this subject?
I really appreciate your time with this…please do not feel pressured to respond quickly…just hoping for some food for though! Thank you, and namaste."