Twelve-Minute Daily Yoga Regimen Reverses Osteoporotic Bone Loss

Osteoporosis and osteopenia affect up to 200 000 000 people worldwide today, with numbers likely to grow with our aging population. Many people are without access to medications or professional help after the fractures that are more likely without them. A low-cost, low-risk alternative is desirable. Annual spinal fractures in the United States exceed 700 000, with more than 300 000 hip fractures. After hip fracture, 25% of Americans will succumb, and another 25% will never leave the nursing institution to which they are admitted following hospitalization.1–4 The United States currently spends an estimated $19 billion on the more than 2 million annual fragility fractures and the 500 000 hospitalizations these entail.1–2 Some have termed hip fracture a “sentinel event,” indicating a general and irreversible decline in many aspects of health, but since the medications themselves are associated with spontaneous fracture, atrial fibrillation, slowed healing, gastric distress, osteonecrosis, and, in the newer intravenous forms, scleritis and episcleritis, some of this general decline actually may be due to pharmaceutical treatment rather than the patient herself or himself.5–7 Yoga classes are a dramatically low-cost and less dangerous alternative to medications and the elaborate health care their absence is alleged to engender. The “side effects” of yoga include better posture, improved balance, enhanced coordination, greater range of motion, higher strength, reduced levels of anxiety, and better gait.8–17 Improved posture directly addresses spinal fractures, while all of these documented benefits of yoga reduce the risk of falling, which is the main cause of all other osteoporotic fractures.8–17 The current study examines the proposition that yoga is a safe and effective means of preventing osteoporosis-related fracture. Contemporary medicine accounts for bone loss or gain by genetics, nutrition, hormones, medications, and activity. The main preventive measures are based on nutrition, such as vitamin D and calcium supplementation;18–20 medications, such as bisphosphonates and serum estrogen receptor manipulation; and activities such as gym workouts, running, and sports.20 We held other variables as constant as possible to isolate the effect of one activity: yoga, to determine the response of 3 common sites of fracture—the spine, hip, and femur, associated with daily use of a DVD of 12 common yoga poses. We selected the poses specifically for their safety and their calculated effects on those 3 sites, among the most commonly fractured. Qualitative bone quality measurements were performed on the left hips of 18 subjects. By pitting one group of muscles against another, yoga exposes bones to greater forces and, therefore, might enhance bone mineral density (BMD) more than other means. The advantages of such a program include universal applicability, virtual absence of side effects, and minimal cost.