Regular Walks Combat Osteoporosis, Study Finds

The perfect holiday gift for grandma this year might be a pair of walking shoes.

Postmenopausal women who walk regularly are less likely to suffer hip fractures, according to a recent Harvard Medical School study.

Women who walked at least four hours a week, even if they did no other exercise, had a 41 percent lower risk of hip fracture than those who walked less than one hour a week.

Previous studies have shown that higher levels of physical activity increase bone density in elderly women, but no study had examined the relationship between walking and risk of hip fractures, said Professor of Medicine Graham A. Colditz, one of the study’s three primary authors.

Colditz said his findings point to an everyday solution to a problem that faces aging women.

“The dominant activity of elderly women is walking,” Colditz said.

“We see a simple prevention method here—even walking is enough to reduce risk of osteoporosis. We’re not saying to add six hours of running at the gym. It’s as simple as adding more walking to your daily routine,” he added.

Although most of the more than 60,000 women enrolled in the study were white, Colditz said he believes the benefits of walking apply “across the board.”

Brown Professor of Orthopedic Surgery Thomas S. Thornhill, an orthopedic surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said the study’s results are consistent with the advice he gives his elderly women patients.

“There is no question that light, controlled exercise is a very important component of prevention of osteoporosis,” he said. “We try to tell patients to walk every day as they can, the limit being their pain or shortness of breath.”

Colditz said he hopes to build upon these recent findings by examining how long it takes for women to see a reduced risk of fracture once they start walking.

The team’s findings were published in the Nov. 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.