What Effect Does Not Exercising Have on Your Bones?

Physical activity often means improvements in cardiovascular health and weight loss. Your bones also change as you become more physically active, to adapt to handle increased demands. If you haven't exercised or have had to stop being active due to illness or injury, the density and corresponding strength of your bones may be affected.

Exercise and Your Bones

• Exercise can help increase the density of your bones if you begin in your youth. Beginning an exercise routine as an adult and as you age helps to maintain the density you've already established. Regardless of your age, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons explains, exercise improves your bones' ability to withstand injury. In addition, improvements in strength and bone density are accompanied by improvements in flexibility, balance and posture. Weight and resistance training have the most beneficial effect on bone health, but any kind of physical activity can help to strengthen bones.

Decreasing Bone Density

• Without weight-bearing, weight-training or resistance exercise, the density of your bones is not only not improved, it actually declines with age. According to the University of Washington, the density of the hip bones significantly decreases as you age. Caucasian women, as opposed to African-American men and women and Caucasian men, are at the highest risk for a rapid decline in bone density with age. This decline may be even more dramatic for those who don't get enough calcium and associated nutrients early in life, when the foundations of your bones are formed.

Implications of Decreased Bone Density

• Bones that are less dense because of lack of exercise are more likely to fracture, causing falls and injuries that can impair mobility. Not exercising also leads to declines in strength provided by your muscles. Weakened musculature combined with bones that are weak further increases your risk of serious injury. According to the University of Maryland, falls that are often caused by sudden fractures of the bones are the most common cause of death for people over 65. Weight and resistance training can provide a significant measure of protection for the bones in the elderly.

Progression of Bone Density Decline

• Osteoporosis, in which the bones become progressively thinner in density, effects approximately half of all women over 50, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. This condition often leads to fractures of the bones of the hip, spine and wrists. Without exercise, your bones can develop smaller fractures that may go undetected until the larger bones collapse suddenly. The injuries cause pain and incapacitation that can be fatal in as many as 20 percent of the elderly who break hips because of impaired bone density.