safe yoga

Interview with Jenna Zaffino

Jenna Zaffino, one of our trained volunteers in Chicago owns a Pilates studio and has transformed her program to better help clients with osteoporosis and low bone mass.

Jenna came to American Bone Health because she had a client with osteoporosis who did not want to go on drug treatment and she wanted to better understand the disease and how Pilates could help.  Since her training, Jenna says that she has learned so much about osteoporosis and is able to have more informed conversations with her clients, saying  ”I’m now able to take better care of my clients with bone density issues in a safe manner.”

Jenna has been very active with American Bone Health once she learned how useful our information is to consumers.  She is working with her Pilates studio to create bone safe pilates workshops where they talk about exercise and nutrition.  Her next workshop is February 19th, 2012, so if you’re in the Chicago area, go out and support Jenna!  Aside from her Pilates work, Jenna is also raising awareness in Chicago.  She recently had an editorial done in the Chicago Sun-Times that claimed her studio to be one of the only “bone safe pilates studio” of Chicago.

When asked what she likes about our organization, she said that American Bone Health is very welcoming.  There were no hoops that she needed to jump through and that it is really easy to be a volunteer. She said, “The amount of professionalism is what makes the experience so valuable.”  Jenna is representative of American Bone Health in so many ways.  She not only took our information to help her clients in her own business, but is going beyond to her community.  It’s representatives like Jenna who are contributing to the prevention and ultimate end of osteoporosis. Thanks, Jenna!

Connecting Bones & Yoga

When people exercise they tend to think about their heart health or building and toning their muscles. Rarely do people focus on building their bone mass through exercise. This isn’t surprising since we can’t actually see our bones growing stronger. Although we can’t see them, we should not forget about them. More and more people are finding out that yoga has many positive benefits to your health, including bone health! American Bone Health is providing important information about the bone-yoga connection and, most importantly, doing yoga safely.

On April 30th, American Bone Health teamed up with Oakland based, Piedmont Yoga Studio on the first Bone Safe Yoga Event. About 25 people came out to learn more about bone health and how to modify their yoga practice to meet their bone health needs. Bone health expert and physical therapist, Sherri Betz, set the stage with bone health information and its link with yoga. Then, Anne Appleby, Cheryl Fenner Brown and Joanne Lyons, our three yoga instructors, demonstrated how to achieve proper body alignment and modify common poses to prevent fractures. After concluding with an exciting raffle, participants left with a goodie bag that included bone healthy treats from Whole Foods and Cabot Cheese, a Yoga Journal magazine, and a Giaim DVD on osteoporosis.

The event was the first of many to come as American Bone Health seeks to raise bone health awareness across the country. If you want to sponsor an event like this to come to your yoga studio or community, let us know!

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