'Would the results be equally promising in people who were simply assigned to do yoga?' she asks. In other words, they wanted to practice yoga. Hannan notes the participants were also self-selected, not randomly enrolled. Marian Hannan, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, whose research includes the effects of biomechanics on physical function.ĭr. 'It gives one a reason to be cautiously optimistic, but a more complete study should be done,' says Dr. The researchers acknowledged its drawbacks: less than one-third of the study's participants adhered to the yoga routine by practicing the poses at least every other day throughout the study, and just 43 submitted complete actual DEXA reports at the beginning and end of the study. Though promising, the study, published in 2015 in Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, doesn't provide conclusive evidence that yoga can reverse bone loss. None of the participants reported bone fractures or other injuries caused by doing yoga. Hip bone density increased, too, but not significantly. The DEXA scans they submitted at the end of the study showed significant increases in bone density in the spine. Their average age was 68 when they entered the study, and 83% had lower-than-normal bone density. The logs indicated that 227 participants, 202 of whom were women, practiced the routine at least every other day for two years. They also received DVDs with instructions for the yoga poses and were asked to log their yoga activity online. The participants were asked to submit dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans of their hips and spines, and other lab tests, at the beginning of the study. They recruited 741 people who joined the study on the Internet between 20.

They wanted to determine whether the yoga poses they selected might also increase bone density by imposing force on the spine and hips. The researchers who designed the study noted that yoga's established benefits-including better balance and coordination-protect against falling, a major cause of osteoporotic fractures. And it appeared to offer women another option to build bone. So a scientific paper titled 'Twelve-Minute Daily Yoga Routine Reverses Osteoporotic Bone Loss' came as a surprise.

Like most of us, you may have become accustomed to thinking that only common weight-bearing exercises-walking, running, jumping, and lifting-provide enough stress on your bones to maintain or increase their density. A dozen yoga poses, performed daily, may increase bone density.

Hatha yoga with weights sequence