bones

When you were a child you undoubtedly drank a lot of milk and might’ve taken a one-a-day vitamin, and any thought that you might be calcium depeleted was distant and not to be considered seriously. Diets are different nowadays, sometimes for the better and sometimes not. For either reason calcium intake, or lack thereof, might have slipped past you unnoticed.

The older you are the more evident the signs. Female athletes tend to be more susceptible to certain running injuries, especially those resulting from a malalignment of the pelvic girdle, and this causes an excessive Q-angle. While there are other more likely causes for an excessive Q-angle than bone or calcium loss, when you reach the point where you’ve got a Q-angle problem, getting enough calcium takes on an extra importance.

What is the Q-angle, you ask? In technical terms it is defined as the angle scribed by two lines: one from the anterior superior illiac spine (the boney outside protrusion of your hip) through the center of the patella; and the other from the patella to tibial tubercle (the bump at the top of the shin bone).

When the Q-angle becomes excessive (very approximately more than 15 degrees in males and 20 degrees in females), the resulting actions are increased femoral anteversion, external tibial torsion and foot pronation. The resulting malalignment will increase forces to an unsual extent causing lataral patellar subluxation. The whole point of all this gibberish is, knee injury can ensue, causing ACL and or meniscus damage.

These injuries, as noted above, can be a further problem when the athlete omits to take in the RDA for calcium, which can result in stress fractures. These are often referred to as hairline bone fractures and cannot be seen with normal X-rays; detection requires a bone scan. Although over the last ten years male athletes are suffering from stress fractures at an increasing and alarming rate. The principle cause is inadequate intake of calcium and calcium that is not absorbed into the intestinal tract.

While calcium intake can be an issue, there are other factors that can result in stress fractures of the tibia (shin bone) and metatarsal bones in your feet. These are two common sites of such fracture suffered by both men and women runners.
Other causes are :

• Running in worn-out shoes. Make sure you replace your footwear every 250 miles for heavier athletes and every 300-400 miles for medium to light athletes.

• Increasing running intensity and duration too quickly. Build your mileage and intensity gradually to avoid undue stress to your muscles and joints.

• Running on hard surfaces, such as the road or track, for prolonged periods of time. If you choose to run at least 50 percent of your mileage on trails, wood chip surfaces or grass surfaces and the other 50 percent on hard road surfaces, you will lesen the risk of stress injury to your joints.

• Women can be more at risk if they have a history of amenorrhea, or lack of regular menstrual periods. I suffered several stress fractures to my metatarsal bones as an adolescent, and this was at a time when I had a complete menstrual cessation for a period of three years. A rigorous training and competitive schedule of track and field, running and equestrian show jumping along with a growth spurt were contributing factors.

The RDA (recommended daily allowance) for calcium intake ranges from 1000-1500mg depending upon your age. Women over the age of 30 require 1200-1500mg daily as bone mass is either lost or maintained until menopause, when bone loss tends to increase. Supplementation of calcium should not exceed 500mg of elemental calcium because the body can only absorb this amount at any one time.

With that in mind, it's best to divide your supplementation intake into twice-daily doses either with a meal or just afterward to ensure absorption. The form of calcium citrate is best absorbed in the intestinal tract along with vitamin D, with an RDA of 400-800 IU.

Some common calcium supplements are Viactiv chews and Citracal caplets plus vitamin D. Your goal should be 1000mg per day, but try not to rely solely on supplements.

You can ensure you're getting enough calcium consuming calcium-rich foods such as yogurt or cheese and soy, rice or almond milk fortified with calcium. Figs, calcium-enriched orange juice, spinach and steamed broccoli are other good sources. My favorites—canned salmon and sardines with bones—make a great additive to any mixed green salad.

Below is a list of foods complete with portion size and mg of calcium to assist you with your daily intake:

Foods
(serving size, calcium content)

Milk (8oz, 300mg)
Fruit yogurt (6oz, 280mg)
Hard cheese (1oz, 205mg)
Ice cream (8oz, 90mg)
Cottage cheese (8oz, 80mg)
Tofu with calcium coagulant (8oz, 250mg)
Almonds (1oz, 80mg)
White beans (8oz, 75mg)
Broccoli, cooked (8oz, 50mg)
Kale, cooked (8oz, 50mg)
Sardines with bones (3oz, 325mg)
Calcium-fortified orange juice (8oz, 300mg)
Calcium-fortified soy milk (8oz, 300mg)

Healthy, strong bones will ensure many years of active vitality in all of your athletic endeavors.

Further information about JulieAnne's coaching services, contact julieanne@semicolon.org. or visit, Semicolon.org.