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.
According to OsteoStrong’s founder and CEO Kyle Zagrodzky, the machines work by creating “osteogenic loading,” applying a sufficient amount of pressure to bones to stimulate osteoblast cells that help in building new bones.
“The computer screen on each device shows the member how much force they are producing in real time,” he says. After each session, users get an email report showing their force per session, and over time.
Founded in 2012, the company runs as a franchise, with 206 centers in 14 countries.
Most insurances don’t cover the service, though that’s starting to change.
United Health Care’s Optum program now includes some base OsteoStrong memberships, a benefit used by approximately 4,000 members.
The Flatiron center charges a monthly membership of $289 – about $72 per session, which are conducted one-on-one. Another $250 buys 10 sessions with popular biohacking devices: Normatec boots, red light therapy, a BioCharger machine and a PEMF mat, devices which Zagrodzky says benefit cellular health by aiding in microcirculation.
Unlike a traditional medical center or physical therapy clinic, OsteoStrong has a distinctly commercial feel, with somewhat cheesy endorsements from Tony Robbins.
Medical professionals say that gimmicks aside, the machines may well be effective, particularly when combined with other weight-bearing exercises, and in more severe cases, with prescription medicines like Fosamax or Evenity.
“The concept is sound; it makes sense and it should work. It’s hard to evaluate objectively because we don’t have studies,” says Dr. Sarah Fishman, an endocrinologist who has herself done a few sessions at OsteoStrong. “They don’t provide data on certain biomarkers, but they do have studies with bone density scans. It’s proprietary, so we don’t have as much data to make a full assessment.”
It’s a frustratingly familiar refrain for menopausal women, says Stein, author of the book “Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation.”
“It’s hard to know what’s valid,” she says. “I feel like an experiment, because there are a lot of things available, but there’s very little evidence-based advice.”
In the meantime, Stein says she enjoys her weekly sessions and hopes that, combined with her other exercise, medical and dietary interventions, they’ll yield positive results.
“In the end, I just want my bones to be stronger, however I get there,” she says. “If it takes all these different things to do it, I’d rather this than being so afraid of falling.”
