Should You Jump For Bone Health? What The Research Actually Shows

Dr. Doug Weiss, osteoporosis specialist, busts a myth:

Perhaps something a little more down-to-Earth

Good news: jumping creates high-impact forces that can stimulate bone remodeling because bones respond to mechanical loading, particularly rapid impact during landing.

However: studies use different jumping techniques, heights, landing styles, and training protocols, making results difficult to compare or reproduce. And even within single studies, the results can be inconclusive. For example, one 6-month study (cited in the video) found small increases in hip and spine bone mineral density after 50 daily vertical jumps, but the gains were within the margin of error for DEXA scans, making their clinical significance uncertain.

Further, the same study found no meaningful bone density improvements, and women not using hormone replacement therapy (HRT) showed a trend towards bone loss despite the jumping program.

This latter is likely because estrogen influences how bones respond to mechanical loading, and reduced hormone levels after menopause can thus reduce the bone-building response to jumping.

Some other studies, for comparison, included:

• 2024 meta-analysis: combining 19 jumping trials found modest hip bone density improvements, particularly in younger adults, but changes were generally small and within the measurement error of DEXA scans. This study also found no meaningful improvement in lumbar spine bone density from jumping.
• 2020 postmenopausal study: continuous and intermittent jumping both prevented the bone loss seen in the control group but did not increase bone density.
• LIFTMOR trial: this frequently cited osteoporosis study did not evaluate standard jumping. It combined high-intensity resistance training with an assisted jump-and-drop landing, making it impossible to determine whether impact, resistance training, or both produced the observed spine improvements.

Jumping has additional problems too, as we’ve written about before at 10almonds, such has how jumping can outright cause the fractures that the the person doing the exercise is seeking to avoid, particularly in untreated postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or poor balance.

What to do instead: an overwhelming body evidence much more strongly supports high-intensity resistance training, structured impact exercises such as heel drops, whole-body vibration at appropriate settings, adequate nutrition, good sleep, and optimized hormone status as appropriate.

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

Osteoporosis & Exercises: Which To Do (And Which To Avoid)

Take care!