J Strength Cond Res. 2020 May 25;, 2020; PMID: 32459739
Interscholastic Athletics and Bone Strength: The Iowa Bone Development Study.
Year: 2020
Pashkova A, Hartman JM, Letuchy EM, Janz KF.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
Abstract
Pashkova, A, Hartman, JM, Letuchy, EM, and Janz, KF. Interscholastic athletics and bone strength: the Iowa bone development study. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2020-The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between adolescents" participation in various interscholastic sports and differences in bone strength outcomes. Subjects (N = 380) were recruited from the Iowa Bone Development Study and categorized based on sport participation into 3 power groups: no-power, low-power, and high-power. Sports such as basketball, cheerleading/poms, gymnastics, volleyball, track, football, tennis, and soccer were considered high-power. Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) was used to determine bone measures of polar stress-strain index (measure of torsion strength), cortical content (measure of cortical bone size and area at the 66% tibia site), and bone strength index (measure of compression strength based on total bone density and area at the 4% tibia site). Adjusted pairwise comparison for group least squares means high-power sport participation compared with no-power sport participation showed significant differences in all bone strength outcomes for both men and women (p value < 0.01). There was a significant difference in all bone strength measures between low-power and no-power groups for men (p value < 0.05), but not women. Because of decreasing levels of physical activity in late adolescence, the promotion of high-power sports may be particularly important for optimal bone development in the final years before peak bone mass.GID: 5129; Last update: 03.06.2020
