Exercise helps keep bones strong and healthy throughout your life.
Bones are made up of living tissue. They get stronger when you use them. As a child, exercise plays an important role in making our bones bigger and stronger. But as we get older, we start to lose bone strength.
Staying active and doing exercise continues to be important as you get older. It can help make your muscles stronger and helps to keep your bones strong. This makes them less likely to break.
What types of exercise help with bone strength?
Bones stay strong if you give them work to do. The best way to keep bones strong is to do both weight-bearing impact and muscle-strengthening exercises.
Short bursts of activity are ideal for bones. For example, running then jogging, or jogging then walking.
Variety is also good for bones. Do a range of movements, in different directions and at different speeds. Dancing is a good example of this.
Exercise for bone and muscle-strength
What is weight-bearing impact exercise?
You’re weight-bearing when you’re standing. The weight of your whole body pulls down on your bones.
Weight-bearing impact exercise involves being on your feet and adding an extra force or controlled jolt through your bones.
You can get weight-bearing impact exercise by doing specific exercises or leisure and sports activities. The level of impact you get will depend on the type of activity you do.
There are three levels of impact – low, moderate and high.
