Sunlight is really important!

So as some of you may know back in October last year I broke my Knee whilst performing a sit to stand exercise in Physiotherapy. It literally cracked as I stood up . Whilst it was a massive inconvenience for the following 3 months, (Having a full leg cast on for nearly seven weeks and being a wheelchair meant my turning circle was massive. Going out became really awkward so I essentially stayed at home unless it was essential to leave the house).

My big questions was why it happened. I had only been a full time wheelchair user for 11 months when it broke and whilst weight bearing is really important for bones to stay strong my knee should not have gotten so weak so quickly.

My doctor refereed for a bone scan and this was just like having an x ray but they scanned my pelvis and chest and I thought that was a waste of time after all it was my knee that broke and they didn’t scan that. I thought it would show my chest and pelvis were fine.

I was wrong, it showed that I have osteopenia which is like a mid point between healthy bones and osteoporosis. I have been put on Calcium and Vitamin D supplements and prescription medication to help absorb Calcium from my blood and put it into my bones. This treatment will hopefully stabilise my bone density and possibly improve it.

I do not know when it started to develop but being in a wheelchair and not being able to do any weight bearing certainly does not help. Also I didn’t realise how important sunlight is to helping to keep bones strong. Being in a wheelchair means that I tend to have to plan any trips outside the house, how accessible is the surface, steepness of incline, availability of disabled toilets etc. All of which means that I have tended to spend more time in the house in the last 18 months than I would have previously done as spontaneous trips out have tended not to happen.

Now that I know how important sunlight is I make a concerted effort to spend at least a few hours every weekend outside, I am lucky that I live close to the park in my village and take my daughters down there most weekends for a couple of hours.

I also am eating more calcium rich foods, hopefully between a more calcium rich diet, more sunlight, vitamins and medication my ostepenia will stabilise and possibly get better.