Osteopenia at 22

unregged.

The brother (22) has being diagnosed with Osteopenia (Where the bones become more weaker and easier to break). Yes strange I know as its usually women 50 plus that get this but he has a vitamin deficency* in his diet meaning he has lost Calcium for years.

Now he is joining a gym right away to try and stop this progressing. However research on official Osto sites have said that Bent Over Rows, Shoulder bearing exr, squats and lunges also deadlifts are NOT recommended. Basically it means he cannot do exrs which require you to bend forward to the waist as Spontaneaous Crush Fractures of the spine can occur when coming back up from this position, however that is with full on Osteoporosis and not Osteopenia.

Its a shame as all the highlighted above ae very important in a programme. Its bizzare as I though weight bearing was good for this sort of thing

Also bear in mind he is on daily meds to strengten his bones and reduce fractures.

If anyone could offer advice, thanks.

d-gal

I have a few clients with this condition, should be ok to be honest. Get him to go to a reputable personal trainer in his area and get a full program design with a monthly review from there on

hunnymonster

Try not to lose hope with this. Osteopenia is age adjusted so if he is now getting the proper supplements and doing weight bearing exercise, there is no reason why his T-squared scores should not return to normal over the course of the next couple of years.

I had osteoporosis and then osteopenia and at my last dexa scan my numbers were almost normal. Your bother has the advantage of being young enough to increase bone density significantly.

As the others have suggested get a proper programme made out and be consistent with it.

EileenG

Osteopenia is not the same as osteoporosis, he can still do squats etc and should. He's not at risk of breaks now, just more likely to be at risk at a younger age. But definitely get a trainer to show him exactly how to do them with perfect form.

It can also be reversed. Good diet, lots of weight bearing and high impact exercise (running or skipping rather than walking) will do a huge amount. Make sure he is getting lots of vitamin D and plenty of saturated fats. Yes, I know, this sounds weird, but in real life, a high intake of saturated fat tends to correlate to denser bones. Your body can't use calcium properly unless there is fat present. Also sat fats tend to increase testosterone, and testosterone helps keep bones dense. Get fibre from vegetables, not wheatbran. Cut down on sugar and refined carbs and coffee/cola, they are not bone friendly. Green veg and tea are.

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EileenG wrote: »

Osteopenia is not the same as osteoporosis, he can still do squats etc and should. He's not at risk of breaks now, just more likely to be at risk at a younger age. But definitely get a trainer to show him exactly how to do them with perfect form.

It can also be reversed. Good diet, lots of weight bearing and high impact exercise (running or skipping rather than walking) will do a huge amount. Make sure he is getting lots of vitamin D and plenty of saturated fats. Yes, I know, this sounds weird, but in real life, a high intake of saturated fat tends to correlate to denser bones. Your body can't use calcium properly unless there is fat present. Also sat fats tend to increase testosterone, and testosterone helps keep bones dense. Get fibre from vegetables, not wheatbran. Cut down on sugar and refined carbs and coffee/cola, they are not bone friendly. Green veg and tea are.

Good advice from Eileen. Also dont forget to ensure adequate intake of magnesium and zinc.

Racing Flat

EileenG wrote: »

Osteopenia is not the same as osteoporosis

While strictly speaking this is correct, as it is a continuum, very bad osteopenia would be very similar to the mildest osteoporosis - i.e. if your bone density is 1 to 2.5 standard deviations from the norm you have osteopenia, while if it is more than 2.5 standard deviations from the norm you have osteoporosis. Hunnymonster might correct this if my figures are wrong!

I know someone who was told she had the hips of a 80 year old at 29. This was a side effect of a contraceptive injection IIRC (and not helped by the fact that she had been vegetarian for about 6 months by all accounts). On a programme of a litre of supermilk a day, red meat 3 times a week (to improve absorption of calcium) and no medication (other than calcium supplementation on days she couldn't get enough supermilk in) after 1 year she was told the bones had stopped deteriorating. She was a bit upset by this as she was hoping there would have been an improvement, but the medics were delighted that the rot had been stopped. One year later again, she was told she was totally back to normal.

She had been a runner and swimmer. Stopped running for a month or 2 (after diagnosis), then got back to running on grass a few times a week with good supportive trainers and within a few months she was back racing short distances and within a year was able to race half marathons.

hunnymonster

Racing Flat wrote: »

Hunnymonster might correct this if my figures are wrong!

nope, you're bang on.

The other thing to ask the doc about is the possibility of prescribing bisphosphonates. I know they are not licensed in Ireland for menstruating women but might be available for a man?

EileenG

Avoid like the plague. Seriously, those drugs had appalling side effects, and the long term results are still unknown. There is a very serious problem with "dead" jaw bones of people on those drugs (my dentist says you should stop taking it three months before and after dental work) and there are a lot of people who think the same thing will happen with other bones, just over a longer period.

My mother in law is taking Fosomax and she hates it. She has to take it on a empty stomach and not eat or drink anything for an hour afterwards while staying upright. She says her mornings are taken over with it. They make her feel horrible.

At this stage, he has the possibility to rebuild bone density with good diet and exercise and lifestyle. That's the way to go.

unregged.

Thanks Eileen, is actonel similar? He has being prescribed it and has to take it once a week. He complains of his jaw killing afterwards?

hunnymonster

actonel is another bisphosphonate drug

EileenG, we don't know the OP's brother's full history so we can't say if the drugs are appropiate or not. "Alle Dinge sind Gift und nichts ist ohne Gift, nur die Dosis macht kein Gift" His GP will have taken all the factors into account and weighted up the pro's and cons.

EileenG

hunnymonster wrote: »

actonel is another bisphosphonate drug

EileenG, we don't know the OP's brother's full history so we can't say if the drugs are appropiate or not. "Alle Dinge sind Gift und nichts ist ohne Gift, nur die Dosis macht kein Gift" His GP will have taken all the factors into account and weighted up the pro's and cons.

Very true, but I've got to say that I've met a lot of people who were prescribed drugs that caused a lot of problems and interactions, and only when they kicked and screamed and complained did their doctor tell them of a non-drug alterative.

Some of the drugs that most doctors would not take themselves are the most frequently prescribed.

Always ask about lifestyle changes and alterative treatments. To be blunt, a lot of people are very lazy, and won't exercise or lift weights or change their diet even when faced with a potentially crippling condition. Doctors are more used to those than the ones who will put in the effort.

Racing Flat

EileenG wrote: »

I've met a lot of people who were prescribed drugs that caused a lot of problems and interactions,

I've met more people in my life who were prescribed drugs and got better than were prescribed drugs and had problems and interactions. Doubt if they'd get the drug licensed otherwise tbh.

EileenG

Racing Flat wrote: »

I've met more people in my life who were prescribed drugs and got better than were prescribed drugs and had problems and interactions. Doubt if they'd get the drug licensed otherwise tbh.

Not so convinced about that, considering that I was almost a Thalamide baby! There are a scary number of drugs being recalled because of problems that didn't appear significant at trial stage, but became obvious when in general use. I'm particularly concerned with drugs like biphosphonates, as once you start taking them, you are often on them for life.

unregged.

Ok my brother has seen a physio who has strickly said that ;

Deadlifts
Bent Over Rows
Squats
Reverse Flys

Are Defo NOT to be done because there are excercises with flexion of the spine.

The physio has also instructed 3 sets of 10 on most excercises and not max lifting eg 4 sets 6 or 8 defo NOT.

What do you think guys? Can he still build muscle and make progress without these important exr? He mainly wants to work on his biceps and triceps.

Procasinator

Of course he can. He can work on most weights. He can do things like pullups and bench. And probably can work away at lunges.

Some exercise is still better than no exercise.

Reyman

unregged. wrote: »

Ok my brother has seen a physio who has strickly said that ;

Deadlifts
Bent Over Rows
Squats
Reverse Flys

Are Defo NOT to be done because there are excercises with flexion of the spine.

.

I'm not to wild about barbell rowing myself.
But how about hyperextensions, supermans, single arm rows, and one legged squats/Bulgarian squats, lunges etc.?

EileenG

Notable that he's still allowed to do squats, which is probably the best mass builder of them all. I saw a study where men who worked both arms and legs gained more arm size than the men who worked arms only. Squatting increases testosterone and gh which are both good for bones.

Procasinator

EileenG wrote: »

Notable that he's still allowed to do squats, which is probably the best mass builder of them all.

He is not allowed to do squats. 3rd item in the list.