TY - JOUR
T1 - Bone mass and geometry of the tibia and the radius of master sprinters, middle and long distance runners, race-walkers and sedentary control participants
T2 - A pQCT study
AU - Wilks, Desiree
AU - Winwood, Keith
AU - Gilliver, Sally
AU - Kwiet, A
AU - Chatfield, Mark
AU - Michaelis, Ingo
AU - Sun, Lianwen
AU - Ferretti, Jose
AU - Sargeant, Anthony
AU - Felsenberg, Dieter
AU - Rittweger, Jorn
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Mechanical
loading is thought to be a determinant of bone mass and geometry. Both ground
reaction forces and tibial strains increase with running speed. This study
investigates the hypothesis that surrogates of bone strength in male and female
master sprinters, middle and long distance runners and race-walkers vary
according to discipline-specific mechanical loading from sedentary controls.
Bone scans were
obtained by peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT) from the tibia
and from the radius in 106 sprinters, 52 middle distance runners, 93 long
distance runners and 49 race-walkers who were competing at master
championships, and who were aged between 35 and 94 years. Seventy-five
age-matched, sedentary people served as control group.
Most athletes of this study had started to practice their
athletic discipline after the age of 20, but the current training regime had
typically been maintained for more than a decade. As hypothesised, tibia
diaphyseal bone mineral content (vBMC), cortical area and polar moment of
resistance were largest in sprinters, followed in descending order by middle
and long distance runners, race-walkers and controls. When compared to control
people, the differences in these measures were always > 13% in male and >
23% in female sprinters (p < 0.001). Similarly, the periosteal circumference
in the tibia shaft was larger in male and female sprinters by 4% and 8%,
respectively, compared to controls (p < 0.001). Epiphyseal group differences
were predominantly found for trabecular vBMC in both male and female sprinters,
who had 15% and 18% larger values, respectively, than controls (p < 0.001).
In contrast, a reverse pattern was found for cortical vBMD in the tibia, and
only few group differences of lower magnitude were found between athletes and
control people for the radius.
In conclusion, tibial bone strength indicators seemed to be
related to exercise-specific peak forces, whilst cortical density was inversely
related to running distance. These results may be explained in two,
non-exclusive ways. Firstly, greater skeletal size may allow larger muscle
forces and power to be exerted, and thus bias towards engagement in athletics.
Secondly, musculoskeletal forces related to running can induce skeletal
adaptation and thus enhance bone strength.
AB - Mechanical
loading is thought to be a determinant of bone mass and geometry. Both ground
reaction forces and tibial strains increase with running speed. This study
investigates the hypothesis that surrogates of bone strength in male and female
master sprinters, middle and long distance runners and race-walkers vary
according to discipline-specific mechanical loading from sedentary controls.
Bone scans were
obtained by peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT) from the tibia
and from the radius in 106 sprinters, 52 middle distance runners, 93 long
distance runners and 49 race-walkers who were competing at master
championships, and who were aged between 35 and 94 years. Seventy-five
age-matched, sedentary people served as control group.
Most athletes of this study had started to practice their
athletic discipline after the age of 20, but the current training regime had
typically been maintained for more than a decade. As hypothesised, tibia
diaphyseal bone mineral content (vBMC), cortical area and polar moment of
resistance were largest in sprinters, followed in descending order by middle
and long distance runners, race-walkers and controls. When compared to control
people, the differences in these measures were always > 13% in male and >
23% in female sprinters (p < 0.001). Similarly, the periosteal circumference
in the tibia shaft was larger in male and female sprinters by 4% and 8%,
respectively, compared to controls (p < 0.001). Epiphyseal group differences
were predominantly found for trabecular vBMC in both male and female sprinters,
who had 15% and 18% larger values, respectively, than controls (p < 0.001).
In contrast, a reverse pattern was found for cortical vBMD in the tibia, and
only few group differences of lower magnitude were found between athletes and
control people for the radius.
In conclusion, tibial bone strength indicators seemed to be
related to exercise-specific peak forces, whilst cortical density was inversely
related to running distance. These results may be explained in two,
non-exclusive ways. Firstly, greater skeletal size may allow larger muscle
forces and power to be exerted, and thus bias towards engagement in athletics.
Secondly, musculoskeletal forces related to running can induce skeletal
adaptation and thus enhance bone strength.
U2 - 10.1016/j.bone.2009.03.660
DO - 10.1016/j.bone.2009.03.660
M3 - Article
VL - 45
SP - 91
EP - 97
JO - Bone
JF - Bone
SN - 8756-3282
IS - 1
ER -