About Bone Builder
Bone Builder is an at-home osteoporosis exercise program published by Mindful Movement Physical Therapies, a physical therapy clinic in Salt Lake City and Holladay, Utah. It was created by the clinic’s founder, Dr. Emily Warren, DPT, so that the bone-loading program she teaches in person could reach the people who can’t get to her clinic.
Why Dr. Warren built this
Emily Warren earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Oklahoma in 2012 and began her career in inpatient rehabilitation, working with people recovering from brain injury, stroke and spinal cord injury — patients for whom the right dose of the right movement is everything. She moved into orthopedics with a spine focus, and in 2021 founded Mindful Movement Physical Therapies after growing frustrated with how little standard care was actually helping people in pain.
The same gap exists in bone health. The LIFTMOR trial showed that carefully supervised, progressively heavy resistance and impact training can build bone density in postmenopausal women — yet most osteoporosis advice still stops at “walk more and be careful.” Dr. Warren trained in the LIFTMOR protocol and became Bone Fit™ certified through Osteoporosis Canada, and began teaching in-person Bone Builder classes at her Holladay clinic.
A class in one Utah suburb can only reach the people who can drive to it. This app is the same clinical thinking — the graded tracks, the movement precautions, the emphasis on technique before load — packaged so someone in another city can follow it at home, and so her own patients have structure between sessions. The trial itself was supervised, and this app doesn’t pretend otherwise: it starts everyone with technique, screens every movement against fracture-risk precautions, and tells you plainly when something needs a clinician’s eyes.
Who it’s for
- Adults with osteopenia or osteoporosis who want a structured, evidence-based loading program at home — matched to their bone density, fracture history and balance through three graded tracks.
- People who just got a DXA result and want to act on it, not just worry about it.
- Women around menopause who want to get ahead of accelerating bone loss, and men who've been told their bone density is low.
- Patients of any physical therapist who need structure between in-person sessions.
Who it isn’t for
Anyone with an unhealed fracture, current unexplained pain, or a condition their provider hasn’t cleared for resistance and impact exercise — the app screens for this and asks high-risk users to confirm clinician clearance, but your provider’s judgment comes first. And it is not a replacement for one-on-one physical therapy: if you can work with a PT in person, do that too.
Who writes the clinical content
Dr. Emily Warren, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (University of Oklahoma, 2012) and founder of Mindful Movement Physical Therapies — Bone Fit™-certified and LIFTMOR-trained, practicing since 2012.
- Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
- Bone Fit™-certified (Osteoporosis Canada)
- LIFTMOR protocol–trained
- Credentialed McKenzie (MDT) therapist
How this content is made
The program follows the LIFTMOR trial (Watson et al., 2018) and the Bone Fit™ / Too Fit to Fracture movement precautions. Every exercise is screened against those precautions, and people at higher fracture risk are automatically steered away from loaded spinal flexion and high-impact work. All 86 demonstration videos are filmed with our own physical therapists — none are stock footage.
We publish the evidence honestly, including where it is weak. Exercise can improve bone density and reduce fracture risk; it is not a cure for osteoporosis, and we do not claim it is.
Editorial and review status
Of our 17 guides, 11 carry a clinician review and show a review date in the byline. The other 6 were written from published clinical sources and are awaiting clinical review — each carries a visible notice saying so. We would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a review that has not happened.
Found something wrong? Email us and we will correct it and note the change.
Not medical advice
Bone Builder is an educational exercise program, not individual medical advice and not a replacement for in-person care. Talk to your provider before starting, especially with a vertebral fracture history, a very low T-score, or other health conditions. See our terms, privacy notice and participation agreement.
Contact
Mindful Movement Physical Therapies
- 1892 S 1000 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84105
- 4890 Highland Dr, Holladay, UT 84117
mindfulmovementphysicaltherapies.com
The in-person Bone Builder class at the clinic is a separate program from this app.