Building Stronger Bones

Learning Objectives I know that I must put ‘bone in the bank’ now to prevent getting osteoporosis and broken bones in later life. I know that I can protect my bones by eating a balanced diet, and doing weight- bearing exercise.

Why do we need our bones? As a framework for our bodies. To protect vital organs such as the heart and lungs. If we didn’t have bones we might look like this!

Which animal is this? A rabbit!

Which animal is this? A cat!

Are our bones alive or dead? Alive! They continue to grow until we are about 18 years old. We have until we are about 25 years old to make our bones really strong.

Put your bone in the bank now! Bone Mass/Density Age (years) Getting to your peak bone mass Age-related bone loss Men Women Ref.Compston J.E. Clinical Endocrinol 1990

If you don’t look after your bones they could look like this! Healthy Bone Osteoporotic bone

You need to eat a balanced diet to build strong bones.

Weight-bearing exercise builds strong bones.

Activities for strengthening muscle and improving balance

Vitamin D The sunshine vitamin. We get 90% of our vitamin D from the sun. We need vitamin D to help your body absorb calcium.

Eat a balanced diet. Do weight-bearing exercise regularly. Get your vitamin D – have regular doses of sunshine but be safe! Remember!

Log onto the bones4life web site and have some fun with us!