exercise, sailing, weight training

[Excelsior80]

I have polymyalgia rheumatica and have been taking prednisolone for 5 months now, likely will be taking it for some years. A side effect is weakening bones and my GP prescribed calcium and vitamin D supplements. I had a calcium check in a blood test, i think, but no actual test for osteoporosis. I want to do exercises to help strengthen bones, my usual exercises are walking, swimming and yoga and I just learned to sail .... my questions are, are these enough or do I also need some weight training, and are any of these dangerous if my bones are already weakened? Should I ask my GP for a scan?

[HampshireELM]

Hi Excelsior80. It's great that you're looking into these things now. I'd suggest trying to get a scan if you can as it's important to know whether you have any spinal fractures. I have compression fractures but didn't know about them until I had a scan! If you have fractures, it makes more of a difference to which exercises you shouldn't do. It's worth looking up Margaret Martin's Melio guide. You can sign up to some emails or watch some of her videos on YouTube. She also has a good book which is very useful.

I use to sail but won't now, partly because I don't particularly enjoy it but also because any jolts can be risky if you have fractures I believe.

Good luck with your exercise, it's so important.

[Excelsior80 in reply to HampshireELM]

thank you so much ! I will have a look.

[ROSModerator Partner]

Hi Excelsior80 ,

Thanks for popping into our online community, we have lots of wonderful members who can share their bone health experiences It is understandable to feel uncertain about what exercise to do and what will benefit our bones while keeping us safe. We also have lots of information and support on our website about exercise for bone health that we would really recommend checking out: theros.org.uk/information-a...

Hope this helps and all the best on your bone health journey

Take care,

Lulu

ROS Moderator

[Excelsior80 in reply to ROSModerator]

thank you 🙂

[tangocharlie]

I also have PMR and recently suffered catastrophic spinal fractures, presumably due to osteoporosis presumably linked to steroids. The only way to get an idea of bone health is to have a DEXA scan so ask your GP for one. Although in my case DEXA scans over the years were absolutely fine and the fractures therefore came out of the blue so a good DEXA scan is no reassurance either. I guess your GP may already have put you on Alendronic acid as you're on steroids but there are other options available including HRT if you look at the ROS website. Exercise may well be enough but there is no way of knowing without a crystal ball. Good luck it's a steep learning curve for you isn't it being newly diagnosed and so much to look in to

[Excelsior80 in reply to tangocharlie]

Thank you!

I am very sorry to hear of your horrendous experience.

I will ask for a scan but who knows with the NHS....I think Im high risk anyway, my mother and grandmother had osteoporosis (mymother denied itbut broke lots of bones) ... also a younger cousin also has it .... and im over 65 and not on HRT. I was only prescribed calcium/vitamin supplements so far, and i think GP said blood calcium was ok. I want to do as much as I can with exercise and diet but avoid making things worse.

[tangocharlie in reply to Excelsior80]

I've only learned from people on here that you can have hrt at any age so I'm definitely looking into it. I was told I was too old to benefit as I'm Over 60 but that's not the case