Exercise places stress on bones that builds up bone mass, particularly skeletal loading from muscle contraction with weight training exercises. However, any exercise of any type is better than none at all, and exercise also provides benefits for prevention of cardiovascular diseases that are more common in the elderly. Athletes tend to have greater bone mass than non-athletes. Exercise in later life will help to retard the rate of bone loss. Treatment Persons with osteoporosis may benefit from an improved diet, including supplementation with vitamin D and calcium, and moderate exercise to help slow further bone loss.
Most drug therapies work by decreasing bone resorbtion.
However, no drug therapy will restore bone mass to normal. Women past menopause with accelerated bone loss may benefit from hormonal therapy using estrogen with progesterone. The estrogen retards bone resorption and thus diminishes bone loss. This effect is most prominent in the first years after menopause. One of the more common non-estrogen therapies is the use of alendronate, a biphosphonate that acts an an inhibitor of osteoclastic activity.