You can CHOOSE not to have Osteoporosis! Here's how.

Bone density. Is it an objective measure of a bone's strength?

Peak bone density ... osteopenia ... osteoporosis. That is the medical terminology describing the downhill path of lessening bone density. Osteopenia is the term for diminished bone density and osteoporosis is the term for further diminished bone density to the point of potential danger of spontaneous fracture. By far the most dangerous issue associated with osteoporosis is the hip fracture.

There are over 1.5 MILLION of these every year in the USA. I suggest that the vast majority are EASILY PREVENTABLE. Read on to find out how.

Many people are being sent out these days for bone density testing. What exactly do the test results tell us?

More importantly, what makes bones more or less likely to fracture? This is really the pivotal question.

Like muscles, bones will wither away and become weaker if they are not being regularly used. And conversely, they will become stronger and less likely to fracture when they are regularly being used.

What do I mean by "being used"? Look at it this way. Your leg bones are being used more when you are standing then when you are sitting. They are carrying your upper body weight.

Heavier people cause their leg bones to work harder (from compression forces) than lighter people. Believe it or not, it really is that simple! And this is key: Heavy people cause the bones in their legs to be compressed - to strain and work harder to carry the weight of their upper body.

Way back in 1930, when X-Rays were commonly taken on everyone and everything (they had not realized that ionizing radiation causes cancer) they discovered that the femurs, or thigh bones, got thicker end bigger on anyone who gains weight. They were simply observing the law of human physiology called Wolff's Law at work. If you take a look at that link, you will see that good strong bones are the result of usage and forces, whereas osteopenia and osteoporosis are simply the progression of bone disuse atrophy.

As such, osteoporosis is NOT A DISEASE - it simply is a result of the old adage: "use it or lose it".

But wait a minute, I can almost hear you thinking ... what about menopause, and ovaries and estrogen. Isn't osteoporosis to do with hormones and females?

Not really, actually. It has to do with ladies, but little or nothing to do with estrogen. There is a "link" between osteoporosis and menopause in that it very often coincides with menopause. But let's look at this closely. Let's not just accept that the link is like a cause and effect relationship or anything remotely close.

Menopause is signified by the shutting down of estrogen production by the ovaries. That is a big problem for the theory that menopause is connected with osteoporosis.

Men get osteoporosis at "menopause" also. About 25% as frequent as women. Obviously men are not experiencing any sort of ovary / estrogen problems, so what's going on here?

The Natural Cycle of Bone Density
Well, let's consider the disuse atrophy / use-it-or-lose-it scenario as the primary cause of osteoporosis. To understand how this ties into the causing of osteoporosis, we need to see what is the normal progression of bone density throughout life. And we can understand it simply by realizing it reflects the normal everyday living patterns of most people.

Here's the traditional lifestyle pattern of North Americans and Europeans - (ie: where osteoporosis is rampant): when we are kids, we are very, very active ... Running, jumping, climbing, sports, jumping over fences, etc. On our feet. Pounding our feet and legs into the ground an awful lot compared to when we get older. We are building strong bones as our bones grow and develop from cartilage into bone.

When we reach our twenties, many of us (most of us??) become a lot more sedentary. We get jobs where many of us spend a lot of time sitting. We go places in cars rather on our feet. We come home after work and watch TV. Certainly this pattern describes the majority of us by our mid-twenties.

Less than 10% of the population ever takes any action to maintain a healthy level of physical activity such as joining a gym or club or obtaining exercise equipment.

That means that over 90% of us are not getting sufficient physical activity to maintain our health. But I want to focus on the usage of our bones, especially those in our legs. Since we drastically increase our time sitting, we therefore spend drastically less time on our feet, carrying our body weight.

Bone density peaks, or reaches its lifetime maximum, when we are in our twenties. So it perfectly parallels the typical lifestyle use-it-or-lose-it pattern so far.

From our mid-twenties to age 50 or so, we lose bone mineral density. From a medical point of view this is the normal pattern and it continues until the end of life. That is how they see "normal". By the time 30 years of going downhill passes by, lots of people have lost so much bone, they reach the danger zone called osteoporosis.

I am going to show you how this does not need to be the pattern in your life. Actually, it a simple lifestyle choice you can make easily and conveniently. You can choose not to have a hip fracture!

For about 30 years after we reach peak bone density, we spend years when we are doing a lot of sitting, instead of using our leg bones, we are quite simply not using them very much. I must suggest that our Intelligent Designer has demonstrated great goodness and mercy since such a small percentage of us actually get hip fractures from osteoporosis, relatively speaking. I often marvel at the fact that after 30 years of sitting, our hip bones don't fail with much greater frequency!

We all have our own personal unique daily activities. Many of these activities are performed while we are on our feet. Shopping, going to and from work, housework, stairs, walking ... what if we could somehow be heavier while we are on our feet? It would help us develop stronger hip bones by simply taking advantage of the daily time that we are on our feet!

This is where the OsteoBelt (a registered trade mark of Wellness Belts Inc.) comes in. Its purpose in life is to make the bones in your legs strengthen whenever you are on your feet. It accumulates every day and automatically takes advantage of whatever you are going to do every day anyways. You do not have to change a thing.

This is certainly a revolutionary approach to osteoporosis prevention, but it would not help anyone if it was ugly. No one wants to wear something that attracts ridicule.

The OsteoBelt is a designer dress belt. It is so attractive and accessorizable that you can wear it all the time, anywhere.

It is designed to replace an ordinary belt. So you would simply put on the OsteoBelt when you get dressed and remove it when you get undressed. There isn't a more convenient solution than this.

It even holds up your slacks. And you can wear it with any style of clothing, from business attire to jeans shorts, even on top a dress. For those who never wear a belt, it can be worn under the clothes, or hidden beneath a T-shirt or a blouse and since it is thin, it makes no bulge.

Also, no one would wear a weighted belt if it felt heavy or uncomfortable on our bodies or caused fatigue or exhaustion. That brings up a unique major blessing about this amazing product. When held in your hand, it is really heavy. But for reasons we don't fully understand, when worn on the body, you actually can't feel it. This nice feature lets us go merrily about our normal day without realizing that we are even wearing the OsteoBelt. It is totally comfortable whether sitting or standing.

What about effectiveness? So far we have heard from a lot of customers that their BMD testing showed rapid buildup. Many of them have said that their MDs were quite surprised. Research on this issue needs to be done to be able to quantify the rate of bone strengthening. Steroid meds are known to cause lower bone density. We have heard from people on various meds for conditions such as MS say that their lessening bone density tests stabilized, but did not improve once they began wearing their OsteoBelts. But at least they did not continue to deteriorate and that made them very happy.

The 2 greatest causes of osteoporosis are ... (the envelope, please) disuse, and steroid meds.

I must point out why thin and slight (small) people are in the disuse category. They are at high risk for this condition. Guess what ... thin and small people weigh less than big or heavy people. So, when they are on their feet, they are not compressing their leg bones as much as a heavier person would. So their bones are getting less usage and are not going to be as strong or as big. That is why women get osteoporosis 4 times as much as men. Men are simply bigger and heavier.

Common Sense.

So what's the bottom line with this discussion? What I recommend is this ... If we do everything possible to prevent the condition in the first place, we should be able reduce the likelihood of ever having a hip fracture.

If you think you may have experienced some bone loss, the OsteoBelt is an obvious choice for you. Let it help build strong bones for you before it progresses any further. By making this choice, you can reverse osteoporosis.

If you decide to wear an OsteoBelt every day as part of an overall lifestyle, you should pretty much be able to forget about osteoporosis. And if you make a point to try to find ways to increase the number of steps you take every day and time spent on your feet, it should protect you even further. These are very simple, convenient things anyone can do without changing their schedule in any way.

The OsteoBelt is a licensed Medical Device, Class 1 (Lic# 2080) by Health Canada for helping fight osteoporosis. Many individuals are able to have the cost covered by their work benefits.

Another major plus? This product is far more affordable than any other alternative anyone has suggested to me so far.

For full product info on this innovative new product, go to the OsteoBelt website.