ZERO - THE END OF PROSTATE CANCER EDUCAT I ON NEWS L E T T E R
Winter 2021
Your Body’s Foundation: Building Stronger Bone
Why? It’s never too late to start exercising. For prostate cancer survivors, regular physical activity can: • Increase muscle strength • Improve balance • Decrease risk of bone fracture or break • Maintain or improve posture • Relieve or decrease pain Exercising when you have osteoporosis means finding the safest, most enjoyable activities for you given your overall health and amount of bone loss. Think about what kind of activities you enjoy most. If you choose an exercise you enjoy, you’re more likely to stick with it over time. What? These types of activities are often recommended for people with osteoporosis: • Strength training exercises, especially those for the upper back - Resistance band or dumbbell row - Push-ups (toe, knee, or wall) • Weight-bearing aerobic activities - Any aerobic exercise on your feet with your bones supporting your weight: walking, dancing, elliptical, stair climbing, low- impact aerobics. • Flexibility exercises - Stretching (hamstrings, shoulders, etc) - Gentle yoga • Stability and balance exercises - One-leg stand: Stand with your hands on a counter or the back of a firm chair. Balance on one leg while lifting the other off the floor. - Core work – crunches, bicycles, plank (knee or toe) Because of the varying degrees of osteoporosis and the risk of fracture, you might be discouraged from doing certain exercises. Ask
Jen Miramontes, Founder, Cancer Champion Fitness There has been a recent surge in research and data promoting the importance of strength training. Much of this information is based on the benefits with regard to weight
control and decreasing body fat percentage. These benefits are certainly going to grab your attention, but I would like to dive deeper…all the way to your bones. Perhaps not as widely understood is the important role that strength training plays in building and maintaining healthy bones. Inactivity causes loss of bone — a condition known as osteoporosis. Protecting and improving bone health is critical when managing all stages of prostate cancer. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a hormone therapy commonly used in treating prostate cancer, accelerates bone resorption (the process of bone remodeling), compromising bone mass and integrity starting early in treatment (Mbalaviele & Wang, 2019). Exercise works on bones much like it works on muscles — it makes them stronger. Exercise plays an important role in building strong bones when we are younger, and it is essential for maintaining bone strength as we age. In general, when you exercise regularly, your bones adapt by building more bone and becoming denser, thus able to handle more physical stress. However, aerobic exercise alone might not be enough for some populations. Additionally, improvement in bone health also requires good nutrition, including adequate calcium and Vitamin D. But the purpose of this article is to focus on exercise. Another benefit of regular exercise is that it improves balance and coordination. This becomes especially important as we get older because it helps to prevent falls, and the broken bones that may result. Now let’s talk about why, what, and how much.
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