CONTRIBUTED

Katherine Rice, owner and instructor of Art of Motion Pilates and Barre, is now offering Pilates for Buff Bones, a workout that focuses entirely on bone health and safety in a traditional Pilates class format.

Pilates for Buff Bones was created by Rebekah Rotstein, a recognized expert in osteoporosis, bone health and Pilates whose endorsements include Dr. Christiane Northrup, best-selling author of "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom"; Dr. Richard Carmon, 17th U.S. surgeon general and a partner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and ambassador of American bone health.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 10 million people have osteoporosis, and 34 million are at risk with its precursor of osteopenia, a news release said. Estimates suggest half of women over 50 and one in four men will break a bone due to osteoporosis. This accounts for two million broken bones which will most likely affect the hip, spine or wrist.

According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, 60 percent of individuals who fracture a hip cannot walk without assistance a year later.

Exercising is one of the most important things to help retain and strengthen bone but if you have been diagnosed with bone osteoporosis some movements such as forward bending could actually induce fractures, so it key to find the right program to be safe and effective along with your physician's guidelines, the release said.

Bones get stronger and denser when people make them work, which includes weight bearing, resistance and high and low impact exercises. Improving balance is also critical to prevent falls that may result in a fracture.

Pilates for Buff Bones is based on Pilates, which is ideally suited for this program that focuses on the core and deep spinal muscles to improve posture and alignment while maintaining flexibility and integrates balance techniques to aid and promote a sense of stability.

"This is a great full body workout for healthy individuals as well as those with bone loss," Rice said. "The exercises are challenging and safe for many different conditions and the program will be very beneficial to my clients. I am very proud to be the first licensed instructor to bring Pilates for Buff Bones to North Carolina."

For more information, contact Rice at (910) 690-6548 or krice@artofmotionpilates.com.