[Lifestyle management approaches in postmenopausal osteoporosis]

Of the lifestyle management approaches to postmenopausal osteoporosis recommended, encouraging walking appears to be more relevant than ensuring appropriate nutritional intake in preventing bone loss. The focus of the current lecture is therefore on encouraging exercise, as it is not hard to imagine the physical impact of exercise on bone mineral density. As has long been pointed out, in fact, the initial management of postmenopausal osteoporosis consists in subjecting the bone to a continual physical stress, including exercise. In this regard, aerobic exercise including walking has been widely recommended;however, there is no clear evidence showing aerobic exercise to be superior to other kinds of exercise, while several studies reported on the benefit of combining aerobic exercise with pharmacological treatments in postmenopausal women, including our own series. Physical exercise programs or guidelines aimed at the prophylaxis of postmenopausal osteoporosis that draw on research evidence supporting the benefit of encouraging physical exercise need yet to be put in place as a matter of urgency.