Can Osteoporosis Be Reversed? What The LIFTMOR Trial And A 95-Year-Old Teacher Show
Can osteoporosis be reversed? The short answer
Can osteoporosis be reversed? Not usually all the way back. But bone is alive, it answers load at any age, and bone density can rise. In the Australian LIFTMOR trial, women around 65 with thin bones gained 2.9% at the spine in 8 months, while the comparison group lost bone.
The bigger risk after a diagnosis is moving less out of fear. Here is the article in short form:
- Bone is rebuilt all the time, and load is the switch.
- LIFTMOR: spine density up 2.9% in women with thin bones.
- A Flametree student in her 80s gained far more than average.
- Doing nothing did badly in the Mayo Clinic study.
- The one move to avoid: rounding forward under load.
- Strength, posture and balance matter as much as the scan.
A quick word on Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.
Bone answers load, where the load goes. Poses on the hands load the wrists and shoulders, which an ordinary week rarely does.
What does an osteoporosis diagnosis mean?
It means your bones are thinner and more fragile than normal, so they break more easily. Osteoporosis means thin, fragile bones. Osteopenia, the stage before, means bones thinner than normal.
It is very common. Osteoporosis Australia, drawing on the long-running Dubbo study in New South Wales, puts an Australian woman’s lifetime risk of a fracture from age 60 at 44%, close to a coin toss.
But a diagnosis is a reason to look after your bones, not a stop sign. Bone is alive. Inside every bone a repair crew is working all the time: one set of cells clears old bone, another lays down new. Load is the switch that tells it to build.
Bone is alive. It is broken down and rebuilt all the time, and load is the switch that tells it to build.
Can bone density really go up with thin bones?
Yes. The clearest proof comes from Australia. In the LIFTMOR trial, published in 2018, 101 women around 65 with thin bones did 30 minutes of heavy, closely supervised lifting and jumping twice a week for 8 months. Their spine bone density rose 2.9%, while the comparison group lost 1.2%. Their hip held steady while the others lost bone. There was only one minor injury.
That was not yoga. It shows something important, though. Thin bones can be loaded firmly and safely with good supervision, and bone answers when they are.
A case from Flametree makes the same point. One of our students, in her 80s, takes a bone medicine. Her latest scan was compared with the big published trials of that medicine. Her hip had gained far more than the average woman in those trials, and the gains kept coming late in treatment, when they usually slow right down. The medicine does much of the work, and a scan has its margin of error. But regular weight-bearing work such as yoga is the most likely extra reason. It is one case, not a trial. It shows bone can still get stronger well into your 80s.
Does yoga help with osteoporosis?
The trials point the right way, and they are still young. A 2024 review of 11 trials, with 1,005 women around and after menopause, found mind-body exercise, including yoga, raised bone density. A 2026 review of 74 trials, with 5,331 women after menopause, found mind-body exercise combined with strength work came out best for bone density at the spine and the top of the thigh bone, where a hip usually breaks.
A well-taught Iyengar class is strength work as well as gentle movement: standing poses held until the legs shake, and body weight carried on the hands. Programmes of a year or more gave the most consistent gains, so this is a practice for years, not weeks. More detail is in Yoga For Osteoporosis.
Where the reviews stand. The largest, 74 trials, found mind-body exercise combined with strength work did best for bone density.
Get the free ebook Strong Bones, Steady Feet. New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
Is it safe to exercise with osteoporosis?
Yes, and not moving is not the safe choice. Margaret Martin, a Canadian physiotherapist who has spent her career on exercise and bones, opens her book Yoga for Better Bones with this question. Should you practise yoga with osteoporosis or low bone density? Her answer is one word: “Absolutely.” What changes is how the yoga is done.
The 1984 Mayo Clinic study shows why. Fifty-nine women with thin spine bones and back pain after menopause were followed for one to six years. Of those given exercises that rounded the spine forward, 89% had a new spine fracture. Of those given exercises that arched the back, 16% did. And of those who did no exercises at all, 67% did. Doing nothing did worse than working the back muscles.
It was a small study, and not yoga. But its direction matches what Mayo Clinic doctors still see today.
Which movement should I avoid with osteoporosis?
Loaded rounding of the spine. Mayo Clinic doctors have described people with thin bones whose spine bones crushed after strong forward bending with a rounded back. In one 2018 series there were 9 people, 8 of them women, median age 66.
The answer is simple. Bend forward from the hips, with a long spine. Picture a hinge at the top of your thighs. The pelvis tips forward and the spine rides along on top, long and lifted, like a plank. If the backs of your legs are tight, the hands can rest higher, on blocks or a chair, so the back never has to round.
Iyengar teachers are trained to set forward bends up this way, and it helps them to know when your bones are thin.
The one known risk with thin bones: rounding the spine forward under load. Fold from the hips, with a long spine.
The safe shape for thin bones: bending from the hips with the hands on blocks, so the back stays long.
Is the bone scan the whole story?
No. Vivian Vieritz is 95 and still teaches a weekly class in Caboolture, Queensland, the Iyengar way. A few years ago she was told she had osteoporosis. The specialist said he had expected someone with her bone density to arrive in a wheelchair.
Her answer was simple. Her bones might be weak, she said, but her muscles hold everything together. She sits tall, spine long and shoulders back, because “if you practise it every day, your body will stay straight and strong”. (Her story is told in Yoga Years, by Kathy Arthurson.)
A scan measures one thing. Strength, posture and balance are the others, and they keep you on your feet. In a Sydney pilot study in 2013, 54 people with an average age of 68 did 12 weeks of Iyengar-based yoga, and balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair all improved: the main risk factors for falls.
Standing on one leg puts the whole body’s weight through that hip. A chair close by takes away the fear of falling.
Where can I get help with osteoporosis in Darwin?
For help with osteoporosis in Darwin, talk to your doctor about your scan and any medicine. That is their area. Then add the work that builds strength and balance. Flametree teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner in Darwin and live online, with beginner, gentle and 50s Plus classes. Tell your teacher if your bones are thin, so forward bends are set up from the hips.
Choose the advisors you trust: your doctor, your yoga teacher and a yoga therapist. They usually work well together. Read more in Yoga For Strength.
Strong Bones, Steady Feet, our free ebook on bones, balance and falls.
Your free copy of Strong Bones, Steady Feet is waiting. New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
Frequently asked questions
Can bone density increase after an osteoporosis diagnosis?
Yes, it can. In the Australian LIFTMOR trial, 101 women around 65 with thin bones gained 2.9% spine bone density in 8 months of supervised loading, while the comparison group lost bone. Bone is alive and answers load at any age, though full reversal is unusual.
Is osteoporosis permanent?
Not fixed in place. Bone is broken down and rebuilt all the time, and load tells it to build. Medicine, good loading and strength work can all move the numbers. Just as important, strength, posture and balance can improve whatever the scan says.
Is moving less the safe choice with osteoporosis?
No. In the 1984 Mayo Clinic study, the women who did no exercises had more new spine fractures than those who worked their back muscles to hold a long spine. Fear of moving is understandable, but losing strength and balance raises the risk of the fall that breaks a bone.
What did the LIFTMOR trial find?
In the Australian LIFTMOR trial, published in 2018, 101 women around 65 with thin bones did 30 minutes of heavy, closely supervised lifting and jumping twice a week for 8 months. Spine bone density rose 2.9% while the comparison group lost 1.2%, with only one minor injury. It shows thin bones can be loaded firmly and safely.
What should I do after an osteoporosis diagnosis?
Talk to your doctor about your scan and any medicine, then keep moving rather than less. Add work that loads the whole body and builds strength and balance, with forward bends done from the hips and a long spine. Tell your yoga teacher your bones are thin so poses are set up safely.
Can you build bone in your 80s?
It appears so. A Flametree student in her 80s on a bone medicine gained far more at the hip than the average woman in that medicine’s trials. It is one case, not a trial, but it shows bone can still respond late in life.
Does a bad bone scan mean I will break a bone?
Not necessarily. A fracture needs two things: a bone thin enough to break and a fall or load big enough to break it. Strength and balance work on the second. Vivian Vieritz, 95 and still teaching, was told her bone density should have put her in a wheelchair.
Where can I get help with osteoporosis in Darwin?
Your doctor handles the scan and any medicine. Flametree Yoga Studio adds strength and balance work, with Iyengar yoga at Woolner in Darwin and live online, including gentle and 50s Plus classes. Tell your teacher if your bones are thin, so poses are set up safely.
Where to next
- New to yoga, or coming back? Start with our half price 10 class pass with 2 classes free, in Darwin or live online.
- For a workplace, team or group: book private yoga classes for groups, online, at a Flametree studio or at your venue.
- Want to see class times first? Look at the beginner timetable.
Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This article is general information, not medical advice. Choose an advisor you trust: your doctor, your yoga teacher and a yoga therapist.
Sources: Watson SL and colleagues, High-intensity resistance and impact training improves bone mineral density and physical function in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis: the LIFTMOR randomized controlled trial, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2018 (doi 10.1002/jbmr.3284); Sinaki M and Mikkelsen BA, flexion versus extension exercises, 1984; Sinaki M, Yoga spinal flexion positions and vertebral compression fracture, 2013, and the 2018 Mayo series; Tiedemann A and colleagues, Iyengar-based yoga pilot, Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2013; reviews of mind-body exercise and bone density, 2024 and 2026; Margaret Martin, Yoga for Better Bones; Kathy Arthurson, Yoga Years; Osteoporosis Australia. Full references are in the Strong Bones, Steady Feet ebook.
