How strength training reverses bone-density loss, beats osteoporosis, as Hongkonger found

On World Osteoporosis Day, meet Jessie Kwong, whose shock diagnosis with the condition at 57 spurred her to join a gym. Now she co-owns one

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Jessie Kwong took up weight training with the help of personal trainer Andy Yiu (rear) after being diagnosed with osteoporosis. The pair have opened a gym in Hong Kong to help older people start strength training. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 11:15am, 20 Oct 2024

Photographs taken in 2021 show Jessie Kwong Shun-man’s legs covered with big purple bruises, and her hands and knees cut and bloodied.

“I would be walking along a street and then just fall,” says Kwong, 61, a retired Hong Kong government engineer. “I used to fall down a lot.”

When Kwong was 57 she was diagnosed with osteoporosis, a disease caused by a decrease in bone density that renders them fragile. It was this that caused her falls.

The density of bones is determined by the amount of calcium and other minerals they contain. According to the US-based Mayo Clinic, osteoporosis affects men and women of all races, but white and Asian women, especially older postmenopausal women, are at a higher risk.

In 2021 Jessie Kwong suffered extensive bruising as a result of falls caused by her osteoporosis. Photo: Jessie Kwong

This is because of a drop in their body’s production of the female hormone oestrogen that promotes the activity of cells which keep bones healthy and form new bone.

Having a parent or sibling with osteoporosis also puts people at greater risk of suffering from the disease. Kwong’s mother was diagnosed with osteoporosis in her eighties.