5'2" female with a small frame and in her late 30's (family history of Osteoporosis) what can I do to strengthen my bones?

Plenty of walking and other light exercise, and lots of traditional foods. It sounds too obvious, but make broth out of marrow bones. Eat some organ meats once in a while. Make sure animal products are from wild or free-range/grass-fed sources, otherwise they’re not nearly as nutritious.

Weight bearing exercise, calcium and sunshine.

Stop smoking if you smoke. Don’t drink too much alcohol.

Not a smoker.

Strength training and plenty of calcium rich foods via natural sources such as leafy greens, fish oil, beans, legumes, and dairy, if you partake. Yogurts, lowfat milk, cheeses, etc.

Don’t smoke or drink too much, otherwise, who knows, maybe your a miss genetically too, and your risk won;t be as high.

My grandmother lived to be 98 and had very little bone loss, but she did walk 2–3 miles a day til she was in her early 90’s, mowed her own yard, and ate cheese like there was no tomorrow. No hormone therapies either.

I have Osteopenia which is pre osteoporosis. Here is some info on exercises to prevent osteoporosis

Thank-you!

Drink milk! often

My Grandma had it. My Mom had it, and now my older sister (just turned 50) has Osteopenia.

If you go the dairy route, I say it’s triple important to get healthy sources, since it’s mostly fat. Butter from grass fed cows is supposed to be great for bones and teeth.

Work out with weights.Start with the 12 oz curl if you have to ;)

Calcium, vitamin D, and Vitamin K. The chances you are low in D are very high, unless you are taking significant amounts of supplements.

Well first off: milk makes me sick so as a possible alternative to dairy, eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Apples, bananas, oranges as well as broccoli, spinach and cabbage are some good ones. Vitamin supplements are are good to have around, too. Just as a side note: soy has a pretty high level of calcium, so if you want to try a non-bloating alternative to dairy, you could try Soy Milk or Almond Milk. (Almonds have calcium, too.)

Oh just to add some info: “The daily value for calicum is 1 gram for adults and children age 4 or older. This is equal to 1,000 milligrams. If the Nutrition Facts on a soymilk container states, “Calcium 20 percent,” then you know the amount of calicum for one serving of soymilk is 200 milligrams, or 20 percent of the recommended daily value for adults and older children.”

Silk brand soy milk has ~300 milligrams of calcium per cup whether it’s regular or chocolate flavored, so if you don’t like the taste of the soy, you could get the chocolate kind! FYI: a regular dairy cup of milk is also equal to ~300 milligrams of calcium. Same with Rice Milk.

Turns out, unless stated otherwise on the package, (“fortified” milks), most Almond and Rice Milks are lacking in calcium, sorry! UPDATING AS FAST AS I CAN ARRRR

@vickorano I have never had almond milk. Sounds good. I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the other info. And, welcome to Fluther!

Almond milk is pretty sweet and the chocolate kind tastes like regular chocolate milk. Here’s an important link I forgot to add to my many-edited post; and you may even find more interesting information through the related posts link on this page:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/calcium-in-milk-vs-soy-milk-almond-milk-and-rice-milk/

Have your doctor check your vitamin D levels, you may find you are deficiant in it and where testing really wasn’t available years ago your family may have been as well. I know by me being checked I found out I was really really low where I am on 50,000 IU a week supplement to get to a low normal level. I then had my sisters and mother get tested and they were all low on vitamin D and are on supplements as a result. My mother then had her sister get tested and she as well found she was low.So in my case it did run in my family where we were all deficiant. You maybe able to stop it now before it even becomes a problem for you where you just take a supplement. I have had bone density tests and they have all come out normal so far.

Should I have a bone density done?

@creative1 I wasn’t thinking specifically about vitamin D, but I bet that’s one reason why the free range dairy stuff is so good. Free range animals eating their natural diets produce products with a lot of vitamin D. That’s why fish oil is so high in it.

As others said, vitamin D—without it your body can’t absorb calcium, no matter how much you ingest.
Vitamin C, too. If I’m not mistaken, it helps with tissue (so bone) repair.

—These are in addition to the above advice—

I would suggest against pill supplements, though. The body takes the vitamins better when they’re in their natural form. The pilled versions are a little different, and unnecessary in a balanced diet.—Vitamin D, all you need is some sunlight and your body synthesizes it. Vitamin C is in a lot of natural food, namely fruit, it’s ascorbic acid.

@DancingMind Oh believe me I get alot of the natural form from the sun which is the way you get the natural vitamin D however my body does seem to asorb it well. I don’t wear sunblock due to my deficiancy and I still don’t get enough. I am always careful not to burn and will wear it when at the beach but won’t wear it when I know I won’t burn.

@creative1 yikes! sorry didn’t mean to seem attacking. I believe you! : ) sometimes the body needs a little help.
…I meant in reference to all the fads that are out there over unneeded supplements. My bad.

@Jude, they started doing bone density tests on me in my mid 30’s.

@DancingMind the problem is the OP is way up in the cold part of the world with little sunshine. It is likely she is D dificient.

@JLeslie thanks, again my bad… I usually have to run from sun-overload.

@DancingMind You are tan all year?

@JLeslie hah : ) no, though—hazard of dance, paleness. And hazard of sensitive eyes, I like dark, and the cloudy times of the year. I could be if I wanted to, though…. So I didn’t even think of environment (or body’s absorbtion effeciency)

@Judi I am talking about doing the vitamim D testing is rather new testing, before this according to my doctor they didn’t have a reliable way of testing it even 20 years ago. This is why they are discovering that so many people are vitamin D deficiant.

Your better to be tested than not and find out the hard way that all the calcium you have been getting has not been being asorbed into your bones. Especially if you are in a colder climate where you don’t get as much sun all year round, because the sun is the most natural and the best way of getting vitamin D.

@DancingMind You are likely vitamin D dificient.

@creative1 Actually they changed the test normal range, and so now people who used be considered normal are considered deficient. Also, in the last 15 years people use SPF daily, and so the rates of D dificiency have gone up a lot.

If you have a family history of osteoporosis and are female you may wish to have regular bone density scans beginning in mid 40s… the consequences of broken hips and other major bone can be devastating… and shorten your life.

There are some health conditions which lead to lower bone density in men as well but they are not too common. I was diagnosed with osteopenia as a complication of another medical condition in my mid 30s.

How you look at diet and other factors should only depend on the results of the bone density scan. If they are normal just eat a balanced diet and get moderate exercise, including some weight bearing exercise.

If the mineral density results are lower than normal (osteopenia) you may wish to take greater precautions such as more weight bearing exercise… and calcium and vitamin d supplements.

Many doctors think osteopenia is a precursor to osteoporosis. However, not every person diagnosed with osteopenia will develop osteoporosis. Typically they regularly monitor the density with scans.

If the results deteriorate greater action should generally be taken…

I had to increase weight bearing exercise… if it doesnt feel like work it isn’t enough weight.

I had to go on good balanced diet high in foods rich in calcium, no fast foods at all.

I had to take calcium and vitamin D supplements,

and finally I had to take a prescription drug to aid in increasing bone density. No other strategy was able to reverse the loss of mineral density until I began taking a prescription drug on top of the other factors.

As with anything related to your health, see a doctor. A bone density scan is inexpensive, painless, and I would recommend for women in their 40s

I am going to schedule a bone density test.

@Jude, If I remember, you do yoga don’t you? That should help. Some people think yoga is just stretching, but as you know, yoga is not for sissies and there is a lot of intense bone strengthening going on. Ask your instructor which poses are best for preventing ostioporosis.

Yes, I do! And, I will. Thanks!