Exercising for healthy bones: Janet's story
Janet shares how she looks after her bones with weight-bearing and resistance exercise.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Boxing Day 2023 was such a beautiful day that I decided to set off on my bike.
I reached the end of my road and realised that I’d forgotten my sunglasses. I started to head back home, but I didn’t spot the black ice on the ground. As I pushed the pedal, my bike slid from under me. I fell off my bike and had a bone fracture.
Later, I was shocked to hear my surgeon telling me my bones weren’t very strong. I was relatively fit and knew how important exercise was for my Parkinson’s. So I wasn’t sure what had gone wrong. After recovering from my broken bone, I was on a mission to increase my bone health.
Time for a change
Until then, I’d focused on low-impact exercise, such as cycling, yoga and Pilates, because my Parkinson’s symptoms made high-impact exercise difficult. Pain is one of my main Parkinson’s symptoms and high-impact movements can make this worse. If I try to jump, for example, my whole body feels like a lead weight.
But I now knew my bones needed weightbearing and resistance exercise too. I started off doing body weight exercises at home and made good use of resistance bands. Later, I joined a gym and started a weights training programme. It was hard at first, as my muscles became quite sore. They weren’t used to the progressive overload of weights. But it’s amazing how the body adapts.
The soreness soon went away, and I was able to gradually add more resistance without too much muscle pain.
When I joined the gym, I had a good chat with one of the instructors for advice. I wanted to learn more, so I hired a personal trainer for a few weeks. He taught me how to increase reps and weights, to ensure progressive overload.
A personal challenge
I was surprised to learn that it’s really the last few reps of the last set that count the most. These are the ones where you almost feel that you cannot lift an ounce of added weight.
You don’t have to become a bodybuilder to protect your bones. Every little helps with exercise, and I’d encourage everyone to have a go.
I began to feel much stronger and more confident in my bone health. It’s now a priority for me, as my bones are less likely to break if I have another fall.