Bone Health History and Osteoporosis

Getting hurt is never fun.  It’s especially “unfun” when it’s something serious like a broken bone.  And while bones generally will heel, there’s always the chance of complications and difficulties later on.  I broke my elbow when I was 5 and still have some stiffness and pain with it, to current day.  While there’s some obvious issues to be aware of, such as long-term pain associated with previous injuries, studies are showing that there can be other complications.

Apparently, breaking a bone can actually increase your chance for osteoporosis.  While some of the connections are still unclear, it’s apparently that a bone break earlier in life can have a direct effect on quality of life in later years.  Now, this isn’t to say you can’t lead a full, happy life following a broken bone.  In my mind, this just shows that scientists have a better idea of what can slow us down as we age.  It also means (to me) that know that fact can enable furthering methods for preventing, repairing and recovering from broken bones, to better ensure a healthier, happier life later.

This could be the start of some interesting research on the wear and tear our bones receive throughout our lives.  Every bit of research can be a step in the right direction towards figuring out the secrets of healthy bones and flexibility.

To see more information regarding bone breaks and osteoporosis, see here.

Dance the Stiffness Away

My sister is a woman of many talents.  She’s a genius, and works in public health and welfare.  She’s a wonderful writer.  She’s an outgoing person and an incredibly interesting character.  She has many odd-ball hobbies, but her newest one is actually fascinating:  she recently took up ballroom dancing.

Now this isn’t anything serious.  One of her best friends bought the lessons for her as a birthday gift, under the condition that they go to the lessons together.  This sister also had a history of line dancing, basketball, softball, and volleyball.  She loves doing.  She takes life by the horns, and isn’t afraid to do something a little “odd” as a hobby.  So, ballroom dancing joined her list of activities.

Watching her and her friend dance together is interesting.  They learned a lot, both about the dance itself and how they actually move.  They always have big cheesy grins on their faces when they do it, and always seem to have a blast doing it.  But, watching they way they moved, I was interested in it as a low-impact exercise.  Consider this:  ballroom dancing is all fairly easy movement, done at a reasonable pace.  There is repetition, but never overt repetition.  And, moreover, it looks fun.

If only more people could find such fun, easy ways to stay active!  So, I’m sitting here, my hips and knees are a bit sore from my recent trips to the driving range.  (Apparently hitting 100+ balls in a day when you’re 1. already sore and 2. not used to it, is going to cause some soreness.  I don’t regret it one bit, though!)  I wonder if I could take up ballroom dancing.  I’d love to dance this stiffness away!

A New Hobby

I’m not an athlete, by any means.  I’m uncoordinated and clumsy.  I played soccer and volleyball off and on through school, and used to be a pretty dedicated runner.  However, I am not at all an athlete.  However, I’ve picked up a new hobby.  A slightly expensive one.  However, I’m confident that it’s a hobby that will get me up and moving, at least for the nicer months of the year.

I have officially entered the world of golfing.  Granted, I’m awful, and I’m taking a late-ish start at a new hobby that people spend years improving upon (or not improving upon)…however, between hours spent trying out clubs at MC Sports and Dick’s Sporting Goods, then spent out in the “rough” of the farmhouse yard, I’m sore.  It looks easy, but you whack around enough practice balls, you’ll get a work out!

Why am I so convinced this is good for me?

Well, for starters, it takes the edge off of the laziness I constantly have to overcome to exercise.  I have trouble exercising for the sake of exercising, whereas something like golf is a good, fun motivation to get up and move around.  I was the same way with sports when I was younger; being active is fun if there’s a social factor to it!  But it’s more than just the fun aspect.  You can’t golf when you’re tense.  You can’t have a knot in your back and get a decent set-up and follow-through.

Now, I’m a person that spends 90% of their time stressed out.  However, standing there with my pretty purple clubs and my pink plastic practice balls, there was no possible way I could stress out, or I’d never hit the ball.  (This is especially important because I’m new at this, and bad.  I’ve been told that the better you get, the easier it is to golf under stress.)  However, I had to relax my body.  I had to keep my knees bent and pull myself into better posture.

There is no way to be physically tense and golf well.  And I want to get better, and enjoy myself.  Just from the hours spent getting to know my clubs over the last few evenings, I can already tell this will be the start of something good!