Bone Mineral Density of 704 Amateur Sportsmen Involved in Different Physical Activities

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the relation between sports and bone mass. Seven hundred and four men with no history of chronic disease were questioned on their adolescent and adult sporting activities. Their total body (TB) and regional (head, spine, arms and legs) bone mineral density (BMD) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. BMD measurements and ratios of regional BMD to TB BMD were compared using a multiple regression analysis. Probands (mean age 30 years) were engaged in 14 sports activities: rugby, soccer, other team sports, endurance running, fighting sports, bodybuilding, multiple weightbearing activities, swimming, swimming with flippers, biking, rowing, climbing, triathlon and multiple mixed activities. They stated that they were practising a physical activity at the amateur level: 7.1 h/week between the ages of 11 and 18 years and 9 h/week between age 18 years and the day of the interview (no significant difference between physical activities). Rowers and swimmers had low TB BMD (1.22 and 1.17 g/cm2) and low leg BMD (1.37 and 1.31 g/cm2). Participants in rugby, soccer, other team sports and fighting sports had a high TB BMD (1.27-1.35 g/cm2) and high leg BMD (1.41-1.5 g/cm2). For head BMD, there was no stastistical difference among the different groups. Constructed ratios pointed out the site-specific adaptation of the skeleton: soccer player and runners had a higher leg ratio; bodybuilders, fighters, climbers and swimmers had a higher arm ratio; rugby players had a higher spine ratio. Head ratio was higher in non-weightbearing sports (rowing, swimming) than in weightbearing sports (rugby, team sports, soccer, fighting sports and bodybuilding). Thus the BMD and ratio differences among the 14 disciplines seem to be site-specific and related to the supposedly high and unusual strains created at certain sites during sport training by muscle stress and gravitational forces. Head ratio is closely related to the type of practice; its value could predict whether sport participants have developed the maximal peak bone mass they could achieve.

Bone loss in spinal cord-injured patients: from physiopathology to therapy

“…72 In highly active SCI patients, Jones et al 31 reported that upper limb bone mass is preserved while a significant demineralization can be noted in the lower body. The beneficial effect at the upper limbs was observed whatever the level of lesion and even in tetraplegic individuals who have been reported to be at risk for demineralization at these sites.…”

Intensive exercise may preserve bone mass of the upper limbs in spinal cord injured males but does not retard demineralisation of the lower body

“…5,13,14 In the able-bodied population, exercise has been shown to have an osteogenic in¯uence, with the greatest bone mass preservation or increase at sites which are loaded intermittently. 15 ± 18 Morel et al 15 found arm BMD to be greatest in sportsmen involved in rugby, ®ghting sports, basketball, volleyball, handball and bodybuilding, and the increased bone mass in the dominant arm of tennis players is well documented. 19 Similarly exercise has been used to reduce the extent of skeletal dimineralisation in both space¯ight, 20 and in the spinal cord injured population.…”

Evaluation of the bone status in high level cyclists

“…The effects of high level sport training on bone may differ according to the specific constraints of the various activities practiced, to the amplitude and repetition of the constraints they induce, and to the bone sites on which load is applied. Cross-sectional studies in athletes report a positive effect of intense physical exercise on BMD (1). A traditional example is that of tennis players whose BMD is significantly increased on the dominant arm (18).…”