2015 New Year predictions for bone health

Once again it is time to polish up my crystal ball — and I see a year filled with bone health advancements.

Better Bones Crystal Ball predictions for 2015

1. Stress will be acknowledged as a major cause of osteoporosis.  Key researchers will publish on the topic in prestigious journals. Sorting fact from fiction, scientists will declare that one’s overall stress index outranks menopause as a major cause of bone loss.
2. There will be a new awareness documenting how thoughts, intentions and beliefs alter gene expression.  With pure thoughts and focused attention, we will be able to turn on beneficial genes and turn off those that are not serving us.
3. Conventional docs will break a new boundary going beyond their limited belief that just calcium and vitamin D are essential for bone health. Because of this new awareness, they will begin suggesting that their patients on bone drugs use all the 20 key bone building nutrients. (Unfortunately they’ll still be rote- recommending bone drugs for a while more).
4. While fractures will still be common, fracture healing time will be greatly reduced as more and more people embrace the natural nutritional and lifestyle ways to speed fracture healing.
5. Tai chi and Qi Gong will become household words on a par with yoga as the bone- threatening repercussions of poor balance and falls are fully appreciated.
6. Every physician will realize that steroids such as prednisone cause 20% of all the osteoporosis in this country.  Knowing this, physicians will restrict their use of steroids moving instead to uncover and heal the root causes of the unwanted inflammation.
7. Sarcopenia, that is aging muscle loss, will also become a household word as muscle loss with aging is found to parallel aging bone loss — and be just as threatening.
8. The US Public Health Service will declare vitamin D adequacy as a national priority, and vitamin D testing will be offered to everyone at no expense.
9. The old-fashioned concept of “caring” will return to the field of healthcare. Health professionals will begin to listen and partner with their patients in exploring individual health maximization.
10. Today everyone knows about the detrimental effects of acid rain, within the next year everyone will become aware of the detrimental effects of excessive acidity within the human body and the oceans upon which life depends.  Given all this, new awareness widespread replenishment of alkalizing mineral compounds will become commonplace.

My best wishes for a happy and healthy 2015!