DEVELOPING STRONG BONES
Bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals.
Strong bones means great capacity to perform our everyday tasks, likewise bone defects poses great challenges. There are various causes of bone defects and challenges vary depending on severity of defects.
From a dislocation to other causes such as gunshot, accident injuries, infections or even defective gene. Treatment also vary in response to defects; physiotherapy, surgical replacement, orthodox and herbal medicines are among various options available depending on defect.
High activities and stress places high demand on our bones and so extra care needs to be taken to protect our bones. Besides, body renewal slows down due to ageing. Our bones begin to till we reach the age of 25 when it stops growing. However, how do we keep this bones healthy and strong.
1) Exercise; It strengthens the bones. Lack of exercise, long term bed rest and inactivity generally leads to brittle bones and stiffness. All these make the bone weak. A 30 minutes walk daily has been said by medical experts to be ideal for keeping healthy bones.
2) Milk, Yoghurt or Cheese; These dairy products contains calcium and other minerals for bone strengthening.
3) Supplements; Supplements help to complement and nourish the body adequately. This is because our foods usually lack some vital minerals needed for bone development
4) Sunlight exposure in the morning provides vitamin D. this vitamin helps calcium which is needed for bone development to flow through the blood.
5) Maintenance of an ideal weight; Overweight makes the hips, knees, legs and feet bear our extra weight. An ideal weight reduces risk of developing bone disease, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and a host of other problems later on in life.