Thinking about healthy bones, yoga, and bone drugs too good to be true.

Part Six in a Series on Yoga for Healthy Bones

I am a sixty-year old yoga teacher and writer specializing in health issues for people at midlife and older. My books, "The New Yoga for People Over 50," "Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause," and "The New Yoga for Healthy Aging," explain how yoga works to keep the bones in our skeleton in good shape for a lifetime.

I've taught yoga for over thirty-five years and am a consultant for research studies about yoga. My classes attract many students who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and/or arthritis, and related health concerns.

When I first discovered the National Osteoporosis Foundation website I began posting articles about what I've learned over the years teaching students with osteoporosis. While I have not kept up with posting here on a regular basis, I have appreciated the daily "Inspire" e-mails calling attention to the many interesting discussions on this site.

Now that it's summer and I have more free time, I look forward to "giving back" to this community by posting more articles about yoga for people with osteoporosis and also answering some of the most frequently asked questions on this topic.

One of the things that inspired me to Post here today is that I received an e-mail newsletter from Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD, Director of the Osteoporosis Education Project and author of "Better Bones, Better Bodies."

Dr. Brown has written an article about the drug Forteo that I consider so important I'm giving copies to my yoga students. I also felt inspired to Post it here. She writes:

"Forteo is promoted as a rising star on the osteoporosis scene, a bone drug that actually builds new bone, rather than just halting bone loss. By various mechanisms, Forteo "tricks" the body into building substantial new bone mass and short-term studies show Forteo actually reduces fracture more than other bone drugs. Sure, it is very expensive and has to be given by daily self-administered injections, but still, the large bone density increases and unprecedented reduction of both spinal and hip fractures are impressive.

While all this sounds great, when we look more carefully, we see Forteo has a variety of serious drawbacks and side effects..."

To read the rest of the article visit www.BetterBones.com, or copy the direct link below:

http://www.betterbones.com/blog/post/Is-Forteo-a-new-bone-wonder-drug-Not-r eally!.aspx?