Fight Frailty & Bone Loss: Top 3 PT Tips
May 14, 2026
Bottom-line:
- Discover the top 3 studies on fighting frailty and bone mineral loss.
- We discuss resistance training, vitamin D, and diet strategies for stronger bones and better health.
- Optimize your patients' well-being with these expert insights.
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- Nutrition interventions for chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases)
- Advanced nutritional strategies to support physical therapy for patients with metabolic disorders
- Case studies demonstrating successful integration of nutrition into physical therapy care plans
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Transcript:
Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine Beach. I'm here to talk about the top tips for fighting frailty and bone mineral loss. So this is a good one for our older adults, our PTs working in geriatrics, but really can be for anyone, particularly even middle age, right? Bone loss doesn't happen just when you're These are the top 3 studies I really want to focus on today.
[00:25-00:47]
So one big thing was a nine month randomized control trial. They looked at utilizing resistance training with vitamin D supplementation, and they saw a small but meaningful increase in bone mineral density in their older adults. So for PTs, maximize bone growth, we need to be asking patients, are you taking vitamin D? If so, how much? And then coordinating that with their primary care provider.
[00:47-01:08]
I know it was probably about almost ten years ago I published a platform presentation at CSM on a case study of a woman with severe osteoporosis. I coupled it with resistance training. We focused on ensuring that she had optimal vitamin D with her primary care. We did full body loading and she saw significant improvements on her Z-score.
[01:08-01:48]
So it is possible and it's something that PTs need to be more engaged and aware of. number 2 so using high quality diets to prevent frailty in the first place so we know that pro-inflammatory diets that are rich in ultra processed foods can increase inflammation we also know foods dietary patterns that are high in inflammation like a high alcohol meat type diet produce acidosis which can create leaching of some of that calcium carbonate from the bones to promote osteoporosis so Studies show consistently diets like the Mediterranean, the DASH, or healthy plant-based diets can help reduce some of that inflammation.
[01:48-02:08]
And it's strongly associated with a slower progression of frailty. So we as PTs, we need to be talking about their diet. We need to be looking at their dietary pattern. And again, it doesn't mean you need to be prescribing that diet. You can refer them to your dietary services, refer them to your dietitian who's a couple of streets down. It's important that we talk about their diet and their quality of their diet.
[02:08-03:03]
Lastly, we need to make sure that these patients maintain vitamin D status over the long term. So maintaining a modest level is okay, but daily requirements are typically eight hundred to a thousand IUs per day. So meta-analysis revealed that vitamin D levels are important, not just in the short term, but overall in the long term. and so that's why oftentimes i recommend my patients to take it and we know that there's a lot of associations associations with vitamin d status and other diseases moreover as we talk about in our 3part course series for nutrition and pt vitamin d is associated with balance as well as there's some studies coming out on cardiorespiratory fitness so patients with higher levels of vitamin d have better muscle performance and that's because there are actual receptors on the muscle that can help stimulate the muscle.
[03:03-03:25]
So that vitamin D plays a role in multiple areas because it is more like a hormone, not just a key for calcium. these are the 3 real big insights for us, for SPTs and rehab professionals. If you want more for your geriatric patients and more for your patients in general, you check out our courses at nutritionalphysicaltherapy.com.
[03:25-03:29]
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