Dr Tracey Clissold is passionate about good bone health in women. She is pictured with the DEXA bone scanner in her laboratory at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology campus in Tauranga.
Dr Tracey Clissold is passionate about good bone health in women. She is pictured with the DEXA bone scanner in her laboratory at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology campus in Tauranga.
Dr Tracey Clissold’s journey in the field of bone health began with a stress fracture while she was training to qualify for the 1996 Olympic Games.
The injury would ultimately quash her Olympic dream, but the experience sparked a passion for women’s bone health. She is now helping thousands ofother women through her research.
With more than 30 years of academic experience teaching in the areas of exercise science, sports nutrition and health and wellbeing, she is returning to her home town of Gisborne to share her expertise with locals.
Clissold said she loved returning to Gisborne and was looking forward to her speaking event, titled Your Health Your Power, next week.
“It always feels like coming home. Hopefully it always will,” she said.
She enjoys going for runs when she comes back - loving the fact she often won’t see a single other person while out exercising.
Her research passion is osteoporosis prevention. She works as a sports lecturer specialising in bone health at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in Tauranga.
Clissold developed a bone health programme after conducting clinical trials in her laboratory, where she uses a DEXA scanning machine to measure bone density.
A DEXA scan is a safe, low-dose X-ray test that measures the mineral density of bones, primarily in the hip and spine. It is used to diagnose conditions like osteopenia and osteoporosis.
A former elite marathon runner, Dr Tracey Clissold developed the Osteo-Gains app, promoting bone health through specific jump exercises.
Clissold and her team developed a phone app called Osteo-Gains, which has been promoted nationally and internationally.
The app takes subscribers through a three-to-five-minute programme a few times a week. It teaches basic moves like star and stride jumps. The secret lies in repetition, a distinct, stiff-legged landing, and specific rests in between.
The landing stimulates bone to slowly remodel.
“If we land the way we’ve always been taught, we protect our joints, but we also attenuate the force on our bones,” she said
People should land stiffly only when doing the programme and rests are crucial.
“Those sorts of stiff, minimal-flexion-type landings are absolutely essential to target bone stimulation, but you couldn’t land like that all the time or you’d blow your joints out.
“People need more force through the skeleton to switch the bone on and encourage it to lay down more mineral, and it’s not the kind of force that you would generally take through your body without doing it purposefully,
“When I rolled out my clinical trials, my women participants were doing these jump landings while they were waiting for the kettle to boil or during an ad break.”
Clissold said there were many barriers to getting people to exercise regularly.
One of the biggest barriers was not having enough time. She believed her app helped to address that issue.
Clissold said the app already had 25,000 downloads, without advertising.
Describing herself as "Gizzy proud", Dr Tracey Clissold is passionate about bone health in women.
Her friend and fellow advocate for women’s health, Leana Moleta, organised next week’s speaking event at Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club.
“She is so passionate about women’s health, and this is one aspect of women’s health we need to share,” Clissold said.
Moleta and Clissold go way back ... they opened Gisborne City Gym together 35 years ago.
They were great mates on a mission, but neither had any idea of the impact the work done there would have on the wider Tairāwhiti community.
“No one would know just how much we needed Tracey and her guidance,” Moleta said.
“Back then, there was no Mr Google and getting decent technique, training and relevant health information was hard. Asking the guy training next door to you was the norm.
“She deserves all our adoration, respect and gratitude.
“I hope her tamariki have her passion and kindness to continue the legacy.”
Clissold’s talk will cover women’s bone health with an emphasis on building bone density. Other specific topics are nutrition for bone health and the importance of getting calcium and vitamin D.
Event details
What: Your Health Your Power: An evening with Dr Tracey Clissold
When: 6.30pm-8pm, Thursday, September 11
Where: The Shark Bar, Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club
