Weight Bearing Activities and Bone Health

Weight bearing physical activity is any activity in which your body works against gravity, so your feet and legs are supporting or carrying your weight. Examples of weight bearing physical activities that young girls like include walking, running, tennis, dancing, tae kwon do, hiking, hopscotch, and basketball.

Activities that are not weight bearing include riding a bike or a scooter, swimming, and skateboarding. But, these activities do benefit overall health and can be mixed with weight bearing activities.

There are plenty of indoor weight bearing exercises that girls can do to help them develop strong, healthy bones. Dancing, lifting hand-held weights (or soup cans), jogging in-place, and push-ups can be done indoors, as well as outdoors.

There are a number of weight bearing exercises available to girls with physical disabilities:

• Wheelchair aerobics - combines upper body movements and stretches to increase flexibility. They are done in a seated position, often to music.

• Arm cycling (ergometry) - this is like bicycling, only it is done with the arms instead of the legs. A girl can use a stationary (non-moving) bike or arm-driven cycles designed for outdoor use. Be sure your girl always wears a helmet when cycling outdoors.

• Wheeling - this involves moving a wheelchair forward, using the arms or legs, over an extended distance. This can be done inside or outside, using a regular wheelchair or a specialized sport wheelchair.

• Resistance training - wide elastic bands used for resistance training and stretching. One end is attached to a non-moving object, such as a doorknob or the leg of a bed or a heavy table, while the other end is held and stretched to exercise one part of the body at a time. Hand weights can also be used for this type of training.

• Some sports can be adapted for girls with physical disabilities, like wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball.