Management of atrophy in the trunk and leg muscles

Standing increases bone density and reduces the risk of fractures

Bone density is a measure of bone strength and strong bones are more resistant to fractures.
Normal bone growth and development needs a combination of good nutrition, weight-bearing, and the use of muscles. Therefore children with conditions which inhibit them from doing these things lose bone density.

A recent study evaluate the bone mineral loss in people with a spinal cord injury and how weight-bearing activity (passive standing) affected this during the first two years post-injury. The Group A – those with regular physiotherapy and a standing programme (1 hour 5 days per week); and Group B – regular physiotherapy intervention and no standing programme.

Results indicated that after two years patients in the standing group had statistically significantly higher bone mineral density in the legs and in the pelvis, in comparison with non-standing patients. Therefore they concluded that a standing programme has a statistically significant
effect in the longer term on reducing the loss of bone mineral density.