The effectiveness of exercise in the management of osteoporosis in middle-aged women
Lim, Young Shin (2023)
Lim, Young Shin
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023121437294
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023121437294
Tiivistelmä
Osteoporosis refers to a bone disorder. It is the most common chronic metabolic bone disease. Osteoporosis places disproportionately heavy burden to women. In addition, age is a critical factor in the development of osteoporosis. This means that being female and elderly are both risk factors, which are non-modifiable risks. This led to the emphasis of women over 40 as a target group of my study.
The prevention and treatment of osteoporosis can be either pharmacological or nonpharmacological. As the former does not fall into the competence areas of physiotherapy, my focus in this thesis is on the latter. As exercise has become an important part of osteoporosis management, it has been discussed in this thesis in detail. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to provide healthcare professionals, and most notably physiotherapists, with knowledge of the evidence on the role of exercise in preventing and treating osteoporosis.
The specific objective of the thesis is to review the evidence-based knowledge of anti-osteoporosis exercise. The research question is the following: What is the current evidence of the effectiveness of exercise in preventing and treating osteoporosis in middle-aged or elderly women?
Research strategy follows the procedures of descriptive literature review. The content of the selected articles is analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Results of this thesis show that there is evidence of the effectiveness of exercise in preventing and treating osteoporosis in middle-aged women. However, analysis has produced mixed results in some respects. The patterns identified in this analysis suggest that the longer period and the higher intensity exercise have a higher probability to produce positive results. The conclusion is that well-designed and tailored exercise programs are likely to be beneficial for postmenopausal women, and that in spite of possible low bone mass they should be encouraged to conduct exercise, including tailored and guided high-intensity exercise.
The prevention and treatment of osteoporosis can be either pharmacological or nonpharmacological. As the former does not fall into the competence areas of physiotherapy, my focus in this thesis is on the latter. As exercise has become an important part of osteoporosis management, it has been discussed in this thesis in detail. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to provide healthcare professionals, and most notably physiotherapists, with knowledge of the evidence on the role of exercise in preventing and treating osteoporosis.
The specific objective of the thesis is to review the evidence-based knowledge of anti-osteoporosis exercise. The research question is the following: What is the current evidence of the effectiveness of exercise in preventing and treating osteoporosis in middle-aged or elderly women?
Research strategy follows the procedures of descriptive literature review. The content of the selected articles is analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Results of this thesis show that there is evidence of the effectiveness of exercise in preventing and treating osteoporosis in middle-aged women. However, analysis has produced mixed results in some respects. The patterns identified in this analysis suggest that the longer period and the higher intensity exercise have a higher probability to produce positive results. The conclusion is that well-designed and tailored exercise programs are likely to be beneficial for postmenopausal women, and that in spite of possible low bone mass they should be encouraged to conduct exercise, including tailored and guided high-intensity exercise.