Looking for site describing physical therapy exercises for Kyphosis due to Osteoporosis?

Question

I have advanced Osteoporosis and Kyphosis. I've just started PT and would like to have a somewhat technical understanding of how the exercises I do help. I would like to find a web site that describes some of the exercises and how they help. I would also like to see diagrams of the myafasia and how massage from a PT therapist manipulates the myofasia to relax. I've been looking for such a site but cannot find one. Can you help? Thank you.

Edit: I'm not looking for you to explain these things to me but rather a place I could go to see diagrams and explanations of how PT helps with Kyphosis....like a web site. Maybe that web site just doesn't exsist but I was hoping that some one might know of such a site. Thanks!

Answer 1

First, for an EXAMPLE of some exercises, you can click on this link and click on the link to the "slide show" for exercises.
Just be warned that not all these exercises will be for everyone. Be sure to ask your PT which exercises are particularly beneficial for you.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osteoporosis/HQ00643

As far as HOW the exercises work, there are two main ways we can look at these exercises. The first are the ones that are "stretching" exercises. These exercises work to lengthen soft tissues that have become tight around the spine due to the kyphosis. These primarily target muscles, tendons, but fascia as well. As one applies a stretching force, the collagen fibers start to orient parallell to each other...as the stretch is sustain, fluids and "proteoglycans" are "squished" away from the tissues, allowing them to reach the point where some of the shorter ones will lengthen. This process will reverse itself somewhat once the load is removed, therefore stretching needs to be done several times a day...not just once or twice or you will never make progress.

Next, we can examine "strengthening" exercises including those that use weights or are "weight-bearing exercises" such as walking, low impact aerobics, etc. These exercises put a force across the bone. Bone has the ability to lay down more bone in areas where stresses are applied...therefore, it actually seeks to "strengthen" the bone.

As far as myofascia is concerned, remember that it is being stretched with exercise...not that I think it makes any difference. I do not believe that the fascia has much to do with osteoporosis. It is a metabolic disorder of bone loss. The musculoskeletal effects are secondary, and it is the muscles and tendons that are actually shortened (there is an actual loss of the "sarcomere", or cellular unit of the muscle that can be demonstrated on histological studies). The evidence for myofascial techniques or that the fascia even contributes to the problem is scant. Personally, I think myofasical release is a buch of hooey without any reliable scientific proof. I wouldn't waste your time with it...although to be quite honest...it "feels" good...it just doesnt' really do anything.

Be sure to go over any exercises with your therapist before trying them on your own. They probably already have a program in their mind of what you should be doing.

Good luck.

ADDENDUM: sorry, I don't think I could find one like that...it gets highly technical and generally not very "patient friendly"...but if you are inclined to do so, I would google "Wolff's law" (which explains how stress increases bone mass) and "creep and hysteresis in collagen fibers " (which explain how lengthening of tissues occur)

Answer 2

Since most of us are not medical professionals and since this is a highly technical question, you may not get a good Answer here. Physical Therapy requires a Master's degree, which not many of us have here! We also don't know exactly which exercises your PT is having you do.

You may want to ask your Physical Therapist this question. He/she may have literature or may be able to direct you to a website.

Good luck on your PT. I have had PT for a bulging cervical disc. PT hurts, but in the long run it helps.

Answer 3

Touch Me I'm Sick - Mudhoney Oh! The song "Big Little Baby" by The Reverend Horton Heat is about a gangly girl!

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis
http://www.sogc.org/guidelines/public/159E-JPS-May2005.pdf
Myofascial trigger point myafasia.
Areas of focal muscle tenderness and spasm, usually precipitated by a central cause of symptoms e.g. lumbar or cervical spines.
http://www.irishpainsociety.com/administration/uploads/article12.pdf
http://www.humanprinciples.com/articles/article5.htm
I seem to have located loads, however how they manipulate, sorry guess that is a trade secret?