Those who suffer from osteoporosis will know the constant dangers they face everyday. Extra care must be taken by the sufferer to prevent the falls, knocks and stumbles that wouldn’t bother an average healthy person, but can often result in fractures or breaks to the bones of a person with osteoporosis.

With osteoporosis, the bones of the body lose their density and strength, resulting in them becoming more brittle and easier to break. It is quite often seen as a disease of the elderly where shrinkage of the spine occurs, and the person quite literally seems to shrink, sometimes very rapidly. The typical ‘dowager’s hump’ is the excessive curvature of the upper part of the spine resulting from the collapse of the spinal column, which is caused by osteoporosis.

But osteoporosis does not limit itself to the elderly alone, as people of all ages can develop this condition through different factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, or a much reduced activity level through injury or illness, heavy drinking and smoking, eating a diet that is low in calcium, overactive thyroid gland, liver disease, or lack of oestrogen due to menopause.

Women often suffer more from osteoporosis than men, often due to the rapid reduction of oestrogen during the menopause, and the condition affects more women than strokes, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and breast cancer. About half of women aged between 50 to 75 suffer from some osteoporosis.

An injury to the spine can be extremely painful and debilitating, so what can be done to help strengthen your bones and protect your spine, and other vulnerable bones and joints?

One obvious answer to help with this condition would be to increase calcium foods in the diet, or to add a calcium supplement in tablet or powder form. But don’t just limit your thinking to just calcium containing dairy foods alone, such as milk, cheese and eggs. There are other foods like green leafy vegetables, herbs, vitamins and minerals you can include that also contain sources of calcium, and some that complement your efforts by helping your body to absorb more calcium, to slow the loss, or even hang on to it for longer.

Try to increase, or introduce the following into your diet:

Fish bones are a great source of natural calcium. Try to choose fresh or tinned fish where you can eat up the bones too.

Magnesium may be beneficial in preventing the progression of osteoporosis. Try taking a supplement, adding brewers yeast, or eating foods rich in magnesium such as nuts and soyabeans.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, so you will be getting extra by eating oily fish such as mackerel, sardines and salmon, which you are eating to get the calcium from the bones as mentioned above. Vitamin D is not called the sunshine vitamin for nothing, and by far the best way of getting a dose is by taking a walk in the sunshine. Vitamin D is produced in the skin as a natural reaction to sunlight, and the body gets most of its Vitamin D in this way.

Increasing your intake of boron is beneficial. Boron is a trace mineral, which can be found in plants. Recent research has indicated that post-menopausal women who increase their intake of boron can prevent calcium loss in bones, so tucking into extra serving of organically grow fruit and root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beetroot, turnips and parsnips can help keep your bones healthy. (Good quality soil is rich in boron, so make sure you buy organic wherever possible).

If you have fluoride in your drinking water, this can help by stimulating new bone growth.

Tea drinkers will already know about the health benefits of this popular beverage, but if you like herbal tea too, you may be pleased to know that a cup of comfrey leaf tea can aid in healing. Calcium containing herbal teas include parsley, kelp, dandelion leaf, horsetail, and nettle. Adding or increasing these herbal teas can be very beneficial to osteoporosis sufferers.

Low or no-impact exercise is recommended for sufferers of osteoporosis, such as walking and swimming. Weight-bearing exercises such as weight training with light weights can also help to keep the muscles and tendons strong that support the spine and joints.

With back problems, keeping your core muscles strong and tight is vitally important if you want to protect your spine from further injury, so taking a regular pilates class or course would be a great way of achieving a strong core, while trying to avoid jarring exercises such as jogging and high-impact aerobics which could result in injury.

In order to get any benefit out of the stretches you do for sciatic nerve pain, it is important that you learn the basic stretches first. Just like in any sport, you must learn the basics before you can advance into the specifics. With this in mind, here are a few basic stretches that you can do from your own home, even while watching T.V. or reading the newspaper.

The first basic stretch that you can perform is called the piriformis stretch. Start by finding a flat surface where you are comfortable. Be sure that you are lying on a surface that will not bounce or move. Begin by lying on your back then bringing your knee up to your chest. Once your knee is up to your chest, bring your other leg underneath your knee so it is now crossed with one another. Pull up with you hands on your bottom leg to feel the stretch in your buttocks.

The next stretch that can be completed at home is a knee to the chest stretch. Again, find a flat surface and try to stay away from beds or anything that will bounce. Start by lying on your back with you hands and feet spread out. Grab your knee with both of your hands and left your knee to you chest. Support your knee and hold for at least 15 seconds. This stretch should be done at least 10 times in order to get the full benefit and can be done at any time during the day. You will feel this stretch in your lower back, hamstrings and buttocks.

These two basic stretches can have a huge impact on the pain you are feeling right now. Make sure do these stretches on a day-to-day basis and stay motivated. The more you work hard to relieve your pain, the more you will succeed. After you completed these stretches, you can learn more advanced exercises that can all be done in the comfort of your own home.

Do you have bad posture? If so, Rolfing may be the solution to help improve your poor posture. Over the years, your body reacts to trauma, both physical and emotional, by creating “blockages”. Dr. Chuck Lustfield, Ph.D., a Certified Advanced Rolfer, says that the result of this trauma “intensifies our struggle with the force of gravity, which results in reduced freedom of movement, an increased likelihood of chronic pain, poor posture and a lessened sense of aliveness and self-esteem.”

The objective of Rolfing is to improve health by bringing segments of the body (e.g. shoulders, head, pelvis, legs) into proper alignment by freeing up those segments that are constricted or out of balance. Rolfing is based on the idea that fascia stiffens, shortens, and loses its elasticity after prolonged poor posture and mental and emotional stress.

Fascia is the fibrous connective tissue that surrounds, separates or binds together your muscles, organs and other soft structures of your body. Problems can arise when your fascia is injured since it creates a glue-like substance - a “blockage” - that begins to inhibit your movement. Over time, this will significantly decrease your range of motion, your level of comfort and quite often, your overall health and well-being.

Damage to your fascia can result from a multitude of events, including birth trauma, accumulated stress from poor posture, sports injuries, car accidents and surgery. The list goes on. Rolfing will release this fascia “gluing” and should stop the downward spiral of bad health. Over time, muscular motion will improve as will your blood circulation. Rolfing, also known as structural integration, was named after Dr. Ida Rolf, a biochemist who was influenced by osteopathy, physical therapy and yoga. Rolfing will typically treat conditions such as:

1) Poor posture

2) Muscle tension and pain, especially in the neck, upper and lower back

3) Other conditions caused by poor posture

There is an alternative to Rolfing: A properly designed posture cushion that uses gravity and your body weight to reduce the ravages of poor posture. A suitable posture cushion will allow the head to assume a neutral position in relation to the shoulders. The contours of the thoracic area will push the thorax forward, stretching muscles in the front of the chest and relaxing muscles in the mid-back and upper-back. At the same time, the shoulders should be allowed to rotate outwards.

A good posture cushion will accomplish the same result as Rolfing, but without the human intervention. More importantly, a posture cushion is portable and you can use it anywhere you please, and particularly in the comfort of your own home.