Dr. Karim M. Khan,
MD., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice (Sports Medicine) and School of Human Kinestics, Canada.
In this keynote address, Dr. Khan distills the increasing evidence that various forms of physical activity can promote bone health across the entire lifespan. In a presentation that emphasizes that exercise prescription must be specific to the target population he reviews important studies from across the globe that focus on bone health in childhood, the adult years and the older years.
The growing years are the time of maximal bone mineral accrual and recent randomized controlled trials reveal that jumping exercises can be successfully into elementary (primary) school curriculums. It is established that the adult years are a period of bone mineral maintenance but women and men, particularly those with risk factors for osteoporosis, often seek advice about exercise prescription to optimize their bone health. The postmenopausal years are associated with bone loss, which in increasingly being treated pharmacologically, but many women seek exercise advice in an attempt to avoid taking medications that are perceived as potentially harmful. As exercise modifies bone mineral according to a genetically predetermined template with several important determinants (e.g., lean mass, nutrition), exercise advocates must acknowledge that bone mineral gain may be limited in elderly people. However, mounting evidence argues that exercise remains a vital modality to prevent falls and fractures in this age group. Dr. Khan will outline several well-designed exercise programs that were based on currently available scientific data and promoted bone health in children, adults, and the elderly and show how these can be applied by physiotherapists in private practice and in the community setting.