The Winning Edge 2008
Sports Nutrition Conference

The BEST Exercise Program for Osteoporosis Prevention

Bone Builders Osteoporosis Prevention Education Program

In 1998, the Bone Builders Osteoporosis Prevention Education program was developed in Maricopa County to reach women 25-55 years of age. Bone Builders has since expanded to 5 counties around the state and is including women of all ages as well as older men as part of its target audience.

Bone Builders is a "train-the-trainer" osteoporosis prevention education and social marketing program. The goals of this volunteer program are to increase awareness of osteoporosis risk factors and increase osteoporosis prevention behaviors, including eating calcium-rich foods and increasing weight-bearing physical activity. The curriculum is based on physical activity bone strengthening research conducted at the University of Arizona as well as osteoporosis prevention research from other universities.

Partners of Bone Builders include the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and Department of Nutritional Sciences; UA College of Medicine; UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health; Arizona Health Sciences Center; Arizona Nutrition Network; Arizona Osteoporosis Coalition; county health departments; city of Phoenix; and, many other community organizations around the state. 

Since 1998, Bone Builders has trained more than 320 volunteers, staff and college students to conduct osteoporosis prevention education in the community

In 2005:

• 4,335 people were taught in 305 classes
• An additional 220 were taught one-on-one
• 16,445 were instructed at 66 health fairs
• Over 1 million were reached with education, materials, displays and media
• The Bone Builders website (www.bonebuilders.org) had 12,801 visitors in 2005 and received 432,623 hits, or 35 visitors per day, with an average of 30 hits per visit

For More Information Contact:
Maricopa County
Sharon Hoelscher Day,MS (602) 470-8086 ext 332
shday@ag.arizona.edu

Pima County
Linda Block, MA
(520) 626-5161
lblock@ag.arizona.edu

Or visit the Bone Builder's Website

College of Public Health Affiliates:
Linda Larkey, PhD
Robin Harris, PhD, MPH