Published in 4Dancers Blog
Our bones are important because they serve as the foundation on which we are built. Bone is living tissue that contains blood vessels; proteins, including collagen; and cells that are actively maintaining healthy bone. Bone also contains many minerals, the most important of which is calcium.
Building Strong Bones
We have the best chance of building our strongest bones when we are young — because the rate at which we form bone is higher than that of losing bone up until about the age of 30, when peak bone mass is reached. After peak bone mass is reached, we starting losing bone at a higher rate than we form it. The majority of the mass of our bones forms between the ages of 11 – 14 in girls and 13 – 17 in boys. The more bone mass you have by the time you reach peak bone mass, the less of a chance of you have of breaking your bones, especially later in life as bone loss occurs.
Bone Health And Your Diet
As dancers, we place a lot of stress on our bones. This stress can lead to damage of bone tissue. However, luckily our body is designed to repair itself, so bones maintain their healthy structure by containing cells that remove damaged bone and replace it with healthy bone, also known as bone turnover.
In order to achieve the highest bone mass possible and to ensure healthy bone turnover, it is important for our bones to have the right ingredients. Dancers need have enough nutritional intake based on activity level, adequate calcium, and adequate Vitamin D. Without these, a decrease in bone density can occur, making a dancer susceptible to fractures and stress fractures. …