July 2016

July 2016
THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com
Will Osteoporosis be Our
Children’s Epidemic?
21
A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study demonstrated that kids today listen to 2.5 hours
of music, 5 hours of movies and 3 hours of internet; that adds up to 75 hours of
media every week.
No one truly knows what the
future of our country will look like,
but as it pertains to bone health, it is
looking very “fragile.” Decades ago,
you the reader, were likely spending
your summer school break outside in
the sunshine doing what kids used to
do, “play”. There were no I phones, no
computers, very little television, just
good old playing. And the net result of
that “play” still resulted in close to 60
million Americans suffering from low
bone density.
The current minimum recommendation
from the CDC
is for children ages 6-18 years
old to participate in at least 60
minutes of physical activity
daily. This age range is also the
crucial period in which adult
bone density is being established.
Unfortunately, a 2013
CDC study showed that only
27% of adolescents (and only
17% of females) were achieving
this minimum standard. That
is exactly why the prevalence
of osteoporosis is expected to
increase by over 300% in the
very near future. That figure
represents an osteoporosis induced
fracture occurring every
single second of the day.
A 2010 Kaiser Foundation
study demonstrated that kids today
listen to 2.5 hours of music,
5 hours of movies and 3 hours
of internet; that adds up to 75
hours of media every week. I am
assuming those figures are larger
than they were in 2010. Don’t
believe me, just look outside
sometime and see how many
kids are playing in your neighborhood.
Unless you live in the exception, you
will see few to none.
Remember this, bone is not dead,
stiff tissue. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
Healthy bone is an ever changing,
flexible living tissue which houses 99%
of your body’s calcium, produces new
blood cells, stores vital fatty tissue and
protects and supports our bodies. It is
only during the active “play” periods in
a child’s life that healthy, strong bone
is created. Wasting 75 hours per week
in front of a mindless electronic device
does absolutely nothing to promote the
EPIDEMIC?
growth of one of the body’s most critical
organs.
We have addressed the problem,
now what do we do about it? The way
I see it, we have three choices to make.
First, we can stay the same, do
nothing, and face increases in healthcare
costs in the hundreds of billions. The
combined complications from osteoporosis,
obesity and insulin resistant diabetes,
a result of the continued inactivity,
will be enough to cripple the nation.
The absolute best choice would be for
us to promote and encourage our youth
toward highly active sports and hobbies
from kindergarten to high school and
beyond. These activities build not only
strong bones and muscle, but coordination,
timing, balance and social skills.
It is our responsibility as parents
and guardians to make sure the future is
strong and healthy. Proverbs 22:6 says
“train up a child in the way he should
go, and when he is old he will not depart
from it”. Wisdom at its finest! The
third option, one in which we are seeing
dramatic changes in bone density and
strength, is the use of OsteoStrong’s
patented osteogenic loading protocol.
For children, osteogenic loading is a
viable means of achieving superior
bone density in the shortest time possible,
even though it is missing the most
important aspect of playing, and that is
to simply have FUN. Now go outside
and PLAY. Give me a call if you have
questions about OsteoStrong or simply
about the best forms of physical activity
to encourage healthy bone and muscle
growth into adulthood.
Yours for better health - Dr. Derek K.
Albrecht D.C.
Dr. Derek K. Albrecht D.C. is a partner
at OsteoStrong in Murrieta as well as
continuing in his private practice. For
more information, call (951) 461-9584.
Healthy
Living
by
by
Dr. Derek Albrecht,
Tina
B.S.,
M.
D.C.
Gottlieb, D.C.