| Summary: | Discordance in bone mass between young adult swimmers and soccer players
may be a direct result of differences in bone loading patterns that influence bone
mineralization during growth. Our aim was to evaluate whether sports participation
(soccer and swimming) had an independent effect on bone mass accrual at the hip and
lumbar spine in adolescent female athletes. We recruited boys and girls 10 to 14-years
of age from Corvallis, Albany, Sweet Home, Salem, Eugene, and the greater Portland
area. Bone mineral content (BMC, g) and bone mineral density (BMD, g/cm²) of the
proximal left hip, spine, and whole body were assessed by dual energy x-ray
absorptiometry (Hologic QDR 4500A; Hologic Inc., Waltham, MA, USA). We used
ANCOVA and report that baseline BMC and BMD values of girl soccer players at the
greater trochanter were significantly higher compared to controls and the swim group,
and femoral neck BMC was significantly greater than the swimmers. At baseline, all
boy groups were similar at the hip and spine. After 12-months, ANCOVA was also
used to assess absolute change for BMC and BMD at the hip and spine. The girl
soccer players had significantly more BMC and BMD at the greater trochanter as well
as total hip BMD and lumbar spine BMC compared to the swimmers, but not the
controls. The girl control group showed a significantly greater 12-month change for
femoral neck and greater trochanter BMC than swimmers. Overall, the girl swimmers
demonstrated a lower accumulation of bone mass during the 12-month study period.
As for the boys, soccer players had a significantly higher 12-month change for femoral
neck BMC than swimmers, but were similar at the spine. There were no differences
between the boy control subjects and the swimmers for 12-month change values at the
hip and spine. While preliminary and limited by the small sample size, our results
indicate that after controlling for growth, soccer players gained significantly more
BMC at the femoral neck than swimmers. Furthermore, exposing the young skeleton
to impact loading exercise has site-specific benefits at the hip whereas prolonged
training in a non-weight bearing environment may compromise skeletal acquisition. === Graduation date: 2004
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