Bone Remodeling in Micro Gravity
Without the pull of Earth’s gravity our bones behave differently in space.
Normally the spongy material that makes up the structure of our inner bones,.(which basically looks like a sponge,.it’s all fractal,..crazy right?) disintegrates and heals properly.
On Earth the process by which our bones are broken down and repaired is generally balanced, in a healthy person.
For some reason not fully understood the balance between the bone breaking down and being repaired is offset. Scientist think perhaps the bones, not having the “mechanical stress” of our Earth gravity makes our bones feel a little more “relaxed”,..and the body’s skeletal structure basically disintegrates, nice.
The same effect also occurs in people with osteoporosis, although in space it’s much faster. We can counter micro gravities effect on our bones by taking more Vitamin D, exercise, and since 2008, using this bad ass looking machine called the AREB, (advanced resistive exercise device).
Space is not only awesome, it’s a learning tool because as we learn to better keep our bones in good health up in space, we’ll use those same techniques to help people on Earth.