Physical activity increases bone mass during growth

Abstract

Background: The incidence of fragility fractures has increased during the last half of the 1990's. One important determinant of fractures is the bone mineral content (BMC) or bone mineral density (BMD), the amount of mineralised bone. If we could increase peak bone mass (the highest value of BMC reached during life) and/or decrease the age-related bone loss, we could possibly improve the skeletal resistance to fracture.

Objective: This review evaluates the importance of exercise as a strategy to improve peak bone mass, including some aspects of nutrition.

Design: PUBLICATIONS WITHIN THE FIELD WERE SEARCHED THROUGH MEDLINE (PUBMED) USING THE SEARCH WORDS: exercise, physical activity, bone mass, bone mineral content, bone mineral density, BMC, BMD, skeletal structure and nutrition. We included studies dealing with exercise during growth and young adolescence. We preferably based our inferences on randomised controlled trials (RCT), which provide the highest level of evidence.

Results: Exercise during growth increases peak bone mass. Moderate intensity exercise intervention programs are beneficial for the skeletal development during growth. Adequate nutrition must accompany the exercise to achieve the most beneficial skeletal effects by exercise.

Conclusion: Exercise during growth seems to enhance the building of a stronger skeleton through a higher peak bone mass and a larger bone size.

Keywords: bone mass; bone mineral content, BMC; bone mineral density, BMD; exercise; growth; nutrition; physical activity; skeletal structure.

Fig 1.

The mean playing-to-non-playing arm difference in the bone mineral content of the humeral shaft (percentage difference of bone mineral content) according to the biological age at which training was started, that is, according to the starting age of playing relative to the age at menarche. Bars represent 95% CIs. Adapted from Kannus et al. .

Fig 2.

Bone mineral density (BMD) of the head, the arms and the legs, in active male soccer players, male weight lifters and female gymnasts expressed as Z scores (number of standard deviations (SD) above or below age predicted mean). Adapted from Karlsson et al. (31, 34) and Bass et al. .