Even minus the weights, yoga can improve bone health in men and women alike.
When Argie Tang discovered that she had osteopenia – a state of thin bones and lower-than-average skeletal density – she decided to do something about it. Now she teaches California yoga classes that mix traditional stretches and poses with the use of free weights.
Tang is one of the first instructors to blend yoga and weight-lifting, according to the UK Telegraph. She still leads such classes in her California yoga studio. However, even minus the weights, yoga can improve bone health in men and women alike.
Multiple studies have addressed yoga as a potential treatment for osteopenia and osteoporosis. One report appearing in the journal Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation found that just 10 minutes of yoga per day improved participants' bone mass density.
The effect was so noticeable that several volunteers were clinically downgraded from osteopenic to skeletally healthy, and others from osteoporotic to osteopenic.
Another study, this one published in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, noted that yoga appears to improve bone turnover in postmenopausal women, a group severely afflicted by osteoporosis.
An estimated 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, 8 million of whom are women, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.
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Tags: California yoga, California yoga classes, California yoga studio
