Healthy Bones for Female Runners

Endurance Runners are at a high risk of Bone Stress Injuries. Being aware of the risk factors and having a strategy to help prevent bone stress injuries or fractures is vital. Today we’ll share why being a runner puts you at risk, what key nutrients are vital for bone health and some training hacks to help you have good bone health and avoid an injury which may take you out of training for a long time!Today we are going to talk about:1.    Why are endurance runners at risk of bone stress injuries2.    What are the key nutrients for bone building3.    How to approach your run training plan to promote healthy bones SHOW NOTES  (02:41)Why bone health is so important for mid-life female runners.Endurance runners are at risk of bone stress injuries, and a high percentage of midlife females are also at less a risk of losing bone mineral density, which increases their risk of bone injuries. (05:21)Bone Stress Injuries – intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors (06:08) Underlying health factors for Bone Stress Injuries in runners may include:health conditions that reduce bone density (such as osteoporosis)poor nutrient status which underpins poor bone healthprior stress injury to the bonetraining  related– duration/distance/rest & recovery or perhaps poor biomechanics or running technique. (07:48)Bone re modelling and which groups of runners may be at risk of bone stress injuries due to their training approach: ·      All year-round runners: the serious recreational runners, who run long distances week in and out, without rest days or scheduled rest weeks. So, there is the potential for repetitive over loading.·      Seasonal recreational runners: they take on a challenge and ramp up their training too quickly. Rapid increases in training loads may increase the risk of running injuries.·      Runners who ignore niggly injuries which develop into BSI’s. BSI’s typically occur 3-4 weeks after a major workload error – we may not even realise we have an injury or perhaps we ignore the niggly pain associated with it – so if we keep training and loading the bone we may be exacerbating the problem and slowing down the bone remodelling process. (13:57)Considerations about the bone remodelling timeline and how rest periods may help prevent excessive micro damage. (20:52)Nutrients to support bone building.To support healthy bones, it’s key to a healthy body composition, eat enough for energy expenditure, and follow an anti-inflammatory food plan. Under eating or calorie restriction potentially down regulates IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor required) which is required or bone modelling. It’s also important to focus on the nutrient content of your food i.e. nutrient dense food containing bone building nutrients. Inflammation drives bone loss so following an anti-inflammatory food plan and being a healthy weight will both support a healthy inflammation status.Bone building nutrients include Protein, Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin K2, Vitamin and Collagen.(25:38)ProteinProtein stimulates IGF-1 growth factor, supplies essential amino acids for collagen production (bone matrix) and will also help build/repair lean muscle mass (key for weight management).Post-menopausal protein requirements are 1.2g-1.6g protein/kg/body weight per day. You do not need to calculate/count protein but please ensure you eat adequate protein at every meal and snack. As a guide ¼ plate or palm sized portion at meals