Nutritionists can be extremely helpful in planning a preventive diet to your liking; exercise instructors can tailor a regimen that will strengthen the muscles and ligaments supporting your bones; nurses and nurse practitioners can help you establish osteoporosis-prevention habits and understand the politics of the current osteoporosis controversy; physicians can order screening tests and medication for osteoporosis. If you choose to visit a physician, ask other women to recommend one who treats each woman as an individual, who has an understanding of the complex factors that cause osteoporosis and doesn’t give simplistic answers for example, one who doesn’t suggest hormone therapy for all postmenopausal women. If you live in an [Read more...]
Risk Factors for Osteoporosis
Certain surgery can also put you at risk for osteoporosis. Surgical removal of the ovaries, especially before, but even at the time of, menopause, reduces estrogen production more rapidly and for a longer period of time than a normal menopause. If you undergo this surgery, you need to take special care to maintain an adequate calcium intake and exercise program. Many researchers report a high rate of osteoporosis if hormone-replacement therapy isn’t started soon after removal of premenopausal ovaries. Stomach surgery (a gastric bypass for weight reduction or ulcer removal) and intestinal surgery can also place you at risk for osteoporosis; stomach surgery can lead to insufficient hydrochloric acid, which is necessary for the proper digestion of food before it passes into the small intestine. Calcium can get into the [Read more...]
How To Strengthen Levator Ani Muscle?
Dr. Arnold Kegel, after whom this exercise is named, first began his pioneering research, in response to women’s complaints of leaking urine. He later demonstrated how strengthening the pubococcygeal muscle (also called the levator ani muscle) not only improves bladder control, but also contributes to increased sexual satisfaction and more comfortable childbirth. When you exercise the pubococcygeal muscle you will become aware of your vagina. Many women have to be taught how to locate this muscle and how to exercise it; they have been living for years with a kind of inertness or numbness in this region. Others, even at an advanced age, still do not know that there are three separate openings in the pelvis of the female body. One woman in her seventies wanted to use tampons in her vagina to absorb urine leakage. [Read more...]
How to Avoid Injury during Exercise?
The best way to avoid injury is to get a medical checkup before you start an exercise program. The examination should make you aware of potential problem areas and possible limiting factors, and help you to set realistic goals. Particularly if you decide to undertake demanding movement programs like tennis, racquetball, cross-country skiing, use of Nautilus or other weight-lifting equipment, or if you have physical disabilities, it’s best to get a medical evaluation to prevent injury, to get the maximum benefit from what you do, and to set realistic goals. Your physician may recommend a stress test, which monitors your heart while you are performing an ever-increasing work load on a treadmill, to discover and make you aware of any hidden heart disease. It [Read more...]
How to Improve both Physical and Emotional Health?
Several movement or awareness approaches, such as the Feldenkrais method and the Alexander technique, use movement for improving both physical and emotional health. These methods are especially useful for learning how to move easily without pain despite disabilities and physical restrictions. Some forms of psychotherapy also use the body to diagnose and treat emotional problems. The two best known, bio-energetics and psycho-motor therapy attempt to break through chronic muscle tensions developed early in life in response to emotionally disturbing situations. These methods can also improve coordination. The average woman should start slowly and work up to one hour three to five times a week in a combination of flexibility [Read more...]
