Welcome back to Week Four of my Bone Health Series.
This week, I want to talk about why your bones absolutely love to jiggle.
When most people think about building stronger bones, they assume that simply walking or running more is the answer. While these activities are fantastic for cardiovascular health and overall fitness, your bones can become surprisingly efficient at dealing with repetitive movement.
When Bones Get Bored
Activities such as walking, jogging, and running are what we call metronomic movements. They involve repeating the same loading pattern over and over again.
The cells within our bones respond to mechanical stress through a process known as mechanosensitivity. These cells detect movement and loading and send signals that encourage the bone to adapt and become stronger.
The problem is that when the same movement is repeated continuously, the bone cells begin to pay less attention.
In simple terms, your bones can become a little bored.
Research suggests that after approximately 20 loading cycles, around 95% of mechanosensitivity is lost. This means the bone cells become less responsive to the stimulus. The good news is that following a period of rest, around 98% of this sensitivity returns, which is why recovery and rest days are such an important part of any exercise programme.
Why Variety Matters
If your goal is to build stronger bones, your skeleton benefits from experiencing movement in different directions and at different speeds.
Rather than only moving forwards, adding movement patterns that include:
- Sideways movement
- Backward movement
- Changes of direction
- Rotational movements
- Hopping and skipping
- Balance challenges
can help provide a more varied stimulus to the bone cells.
This variety encourages bones to remain responsive and adapt to the forces being placed upon them.
Could This Explain Some Running Injuries?
Running places significant forces through the body and is an excellent activity for fitness. However, if running is the only form of exercise being performed, the repetitive nature of the movement means that bone cells may not receive the diverse loading patterns needed to maximise adaptation.
This may help explain why some runners can still experience bone-related injuries despite covering large training volumes.
Adding strength training, multidirectional movement, and impact variation can help expose bones to different forces and encourage a stronger, more resilient skeleton.
How to “Wake Up” Your Bones
The goal isn’t necessarily to do more exercise. Instead, it’s about introducing different types of movement.
Examples include:
✅ Side steps
✅ Lateral lunges
✅ Backward walking
✅ Hopping in different directions
✅ Skipping
✅ Strength training
✅ Balance exercises
✅ Agility drills
These movements challenge the skeleton in new ways and help stimulate the bone cells responsible for maintaining and building bone tissue.
Don’t Forget Recovery
One of the most important things to remember is that stronger bones are built during recovery.
Because bone cell sensitivity returns after rest, allowing adequate time between higher-impact or bone-loading sessions can help optimise adaptation and reduce injury risk.
More is not always better. Consistent training combined with appropriate recovery is often the winning formula for long-term bone health.
Want to Improve Your Bone Health?
Today I’ll be taking you through a variety of movements, including sideways and backward loading patterns, designed to help stimulate bone cells and support the development of a stronger skeleton.
If you’d like to learn more about exercise for bone health, strength, balance, and healthy ageing, join my free fitness app:
👉 app.movewilder.co.uk
Let’s keep challenging our bones in new ways and build strength that lasts for life.
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