Exercise Programs for Treating Post Menopausal Osteoporotic Women; Which is Best?

The current study was conducted to determine the ideal type of exercise to be used in the treatment of post menopausal osteoporotic women. A total of sixty non obese post menopausal osteoporotic women, aged 55 to 65 years old with natural menopause for at least five years and their parity not more than three times. They were assigned randomly into three equal groups: group (A) brisk walked in fresh air daily for 30 minutes, group (B) performed specific exercise program for the muscles around hip and lumbar spine and group (C) performed weight bearing exercise program on treadmill for 30 minutes. All groups were received the same daily regular regimen of calcium bicarbonate supplementation (1000mg) and diet rich in calcium all through the study period. Before and after six months of treatment all groups were studied for differences in their bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine as well as, neck of the femur as well as serum calcium and alkaline phosphates.

The results of this study demonstrated that exercise produced significant increase in all the tested parameters of the three exercise groups. The highest results was recorded in exercise group (C) which performed weight bearing exercise on treadmill and the least improvement was recorded in group (A) that brisk walked in fresh air. The results also showed significant increase in group (B) and (C) compared to group (A), while there was a non significant difference between group (B) and (C).

This study demonstrated that specific exercises as well as weight bearing exercise are pronounced to treat post menopausal osteoporotic women with the superior effect for weight bearing exercise.