It may sound like odd advice to give postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, but new research shows that weight-bearing exercises can help support strong bones.

The researchers looked at 43 studies which focused on the effect of exercising on bone health. The studies covered 4,320 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

They found different exercises could target a specific bone that was weak. Exercising using dumbbells, or in a way that body weight pulls against the bones, stops the loss.

Bones are at their strongest when women are in their twenties, and generally retain this strength until 50 years. At this age bones start to lose essential minerals like calcium more quickly than the body can replace them, which makes the bones less dense, and therefore weak.