Once a week, Elissa Stein, a spunky 60-year-old partial to hot-pink reading glasses, finds herself in a studio in NYC’s Flatiron, pushing and pulling against machines purporting to pressure her bones and reverse the osteoporosis diagnosis she received shortly after her birthday.
“It was terrifying, because I do all the things you’re supposed to do: I work out, I eat well, I don’t drink or smoke,” she said. Stein, who struggled with an eating disorder in her 20s and 30s, had never been told that her medical history made her more likely to develop osteoporosis, a condition accelerated by the loss of bone-protecting estrogen in menopause. Stein is in good company: Between 20% and 25% of postmenopausal women in the US have osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation and the CDC.
Stein became intensely focused on strengthening her bones. She started taking the bone density drug Fosamax, using hormone replacement therapy and lifting heavy weights. A Google search led her to the Flatiron outpost of OsteoStrong, where Stein works with a trainer for very short bursts — about 10 seconds — of exertion on machines targeting her upper body, her lower body, her core and her spine.
