New study results indicate you should start hopping
We’ve talked a lot about hips on the blog, and if you’ve missed out on any of those excellent posts, here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve done:
- I had a total hip replacement and my hip hurts!
- How hip pain limits your golf game
- Hip Replacement Improves Quality of Life and Saves Patients $65,000 in Lifetime Health Costs
- Do Injections work for osteoarthritis pain in the hip and knee?
- Why there’s hope for active people with hip pain
- And there’s more…
And today we’re back at it again because of new research suggesting balance can be improved and the chance of hip fracture reduced by performing a simple exercise daily.
We pretty much want everyone to be like this guy, and strong hips can help people achieve that.
Awesome Gentleman Breaking it Down
Now that’s a person who isn’t dreaming life. He’s living it!
But many people don’t have a chance to throw their walking aids and dance like there’s no tomorrow because Osteoporosis has decreased their quality of life.
Fast Facts on on Osteoporosis:
- 1 in 3 women on Earth over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related hip fracture. For men, it’s 1 in 5.
- Men die more frequently from issues related to fractures than women.
- By 2050, the incidence of hip fracture is expected to rise by over 300% for men and 240% for women.
The research
A new research study in the UK is attempting to help people avoid hip fractures by merely hopping for two minutes per day.
Dr. Sarah Allison says, “We know exercise can improve bone strength, and we wanted to test a form of exercise that is both easy and quick for people to achieve in their homes.”
[quote]“The study found that hopping for two minutes a day for one year led to a 7% increase in parts of the exercised hip’s outer shell. The results also showed increases in the density of the layer of spongy bone under the cortex.”*[/quote]
Dr. Mark Barba, a total joint surgeon with Rockford Orthopedic commented, “Balance exercises are quite popular with physical therapists and athletic trainers, and for good reason! Not only does this help prevent falls, but studies suggest balance exercises–specifically those involving the use of the left and right sides of the brain alternately may delay or prevent certain types of dementia, so there’s an added benefit to hopping for a few minutes a day.”
The researchers of the Hip Hop study did acknowledge that more studies need to be done to confirm their findings, and this particular study only used men over the age of 65, so the study needs to be repeated with women as well.
Dr. Barba did caution that people should check with their physician’s before hopping around all day in order to strengthen hips, but he was also optimistic.
“We know loading bones with body weight helps slow the inevitable bone loss of normal aging, and it seems the more impact a person can handle, the better the result will be. If this current study is confirmed, that would be fantastic because patients didn’t need to commit that much time to the exercise in order to see a positive result.”
This is just another encouragement to remain active as you age because–according to this study–the more moderate to high impact activities you do, the stronger your bones will be.
