A while back I picked up on a story that said judo players in their older years evidenced abnormally healthy and compact bone density. The explanation for this phenomenon was that their bodies had experienced accumulated stresses of heavy impact causing the bones to thicken. All that crashing into the mat, must have amounted to something.
At the time I did wonder if there was any truth in this, or was it just wishful thinking?
But, on reading Daniel Lieberman’s ‘The Story of the Human Body’ (his earlier book. I have previously reviewed, ‘Exercised’, https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/book-review-exercised-the-science ) I found that the story behind the judo player’s thickened bones was not a modern myth.
Impact on Judo and other martial arts.
There has been a whole body of research that has proved that numerous physical activities, including martial arts, promote bone growth and help create super-strong and durable bodies.
This is good news all round, particularly relating to healthy ageing and remaining injury free into our senior years. Essentially, bone that is built up in our youth tends to stay with us into our old age, depending on certain factors (more of that later).
In Lieberman’s book he says that engineers have yet to come up with a structure as intricate, compact and durable as bone. Inside a section of bone are honeycombed micro-structures that are designed to take on the stress of exertion and load-bearing. In the process of doing this they create minute interior fractures, so small we don’t feel them; this is a constant thing throughout our lives. The good news is that the fractures heal quickly and even stronger than before; like a ‘demolition/rebuild’ cycle.
Lieberman gives an example of junior to teen tennis players, whose dominant racket arm can build bone up to 40% thicker and 40% stronger than a normal junior/teen; certainly more than one who is inclined to be sedentary and sits in their room staring at a tiny screen.
What kinds of stresses and loads are we talking about? Actually, this can range from the seemingly gentle and benign to the extreme and energetic.
With load bearing, even everyday stuff, walking, standing, sitting, is putting minor stresses on our bones. If this is repeated constantly and relentlessly during the waking hours, where you might have a physical job (think of something like waitressing, nursing, or being a builder or scaffolder) the body has to grow/repair to adapt in muscle and bone.
Perhaps it’s that we are comfortable with the fact that the deliberate stressing of muscles in something like weight training will create micro tears that then builds muscle back stronger and thicker, that we tend to think of bone as static and fixed.
Archers and horsemen.
It has long been recognised by archaeologists who deal with human remains that certain professions from the medieval or early period show excessive bone growth that reveal the stresses on the body related to what they did and what they were brought up doing. The obvious ones are archers. The strength needed to repeatedly draw the incredibly powerful English longbow had to be phenomenal; thus, the bones grew thicker, and in some cases, longer. Although no soft tissue remained, the areas where muscles/tendons were attached were also pronounced, they needed to be to cope with the overly-developed muscles. A similar thing has been found with the bones of Asiatic horsemen, whose life was spent in the saddle.
Points worth noting for any martial artist or sportsperson.
1. You can promote healthy bone growth (and prevent the onset of osteoporosis in later life) by making sure you get a healthy supply of vitamin D and calcium.1 The bad news is that you only really reap the benefits of these by deliberately stressing your bones (particularly in early life) through lots of activity, sports (and martial arts). After the skeleton has fully grown it is more difficult to cash in on these bonuses. Certainly, this is something for parents and PE teachers to ponder.
2. The ‘demolish/rebuild’ cycle becomes less efficient as you get older, and although the demolition continues, the repair and rebuild becomes diminished in its capacity; this leads to osteoporosis. Men suffer less from this condition because of the benefits of testosterone, but even that diminishes over time.
3. Taking and holding stances and postures create load-bearing opportunities. The impact involved in running and jumping causes healthy stress on bones and other structures. And, as I have mentioned before, resistance training is the golden ticket, particularly if you want to continue to be active into later life.
In conclusion.
We are creatures who are designed for movement, but have done everything possible to try to create an environment and lifestyle that values and lauds inactivity. We take the lift instead of the stairs, we sit ‘at ease’ for hours on end on our sofas which are designed to completely remove any necessity to activate our muscles – unless it is to reach for the remote control for the TV.
For us, it is a big deal if we force ourselves to walk anywhere instead of taking even the shortest of trips in our gas-guzzling, wheeled versions of the ‘flying armchair’ – the automobile.
It’s an almost comical conundrum; we are built for activity, yet our instincts are to avoid it at all costs – and we consider ourselves the smartest species on the planet?
Do something positive – put some stress on your bones now.
A note about vitamin D. Most Northern Europeans don’t have enough vitamin D because our exposure to sunlight (the major natural source of vitamin D) is so limited. GPs were asked if they encouraged their families to take any supplements and they almost all said that vitamin D was essential. Unfortunately, these supplements are pretty weak when compared to 20 minutes exposed to sunlight; because on a bright sunny day the body makes its own vitamin D.
I take VitD tab daily from Oct to April.
I do some form of exercise 6 days aweek.
I eat a very healthy diet and hydrate well. I dont smoke or drink much alcohol. Dont eat meat or fish, one is ethics and one palate.
I would like to learn to meditate and add in yoga or pilatez. May be after ive had my hip resurfaced, if Uk healthcare system will do it!
But aside, we ought to be learning about this from birth. I shudder at garbage fast food and processed food eaten by so many people so often. I simply dont understand how they can literally poison themselvez and then expect NHS to wave a wand and cure their endless health concerns free of charge, effirt and any responsibility. But thats how it is.
Nice, Tim. This is well done.
I liked the description of the tiny fractures!