The Relationship Between Physical Activity Level and Bone Mineral Status in Adolescent Males

Whalen, Robert L.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/71089 Copy

Description

Title

The Relationship Between Physical Activity Level and Bone Mineral Status in Adolescent Males

Author(s)

Whalen, Robert L.

Issue Date

1994

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Stillman, Rachel J.

Department of Study

Kinesiology

Discipline

Kinesiology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Education, Physical
• Health Sciences, Human Development

Abstract

• Chronically high active subjects were compared to low active subjects at two levels, prepubescent and post-pubescent. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between level of physical activity and BMC (bone mineral content) and BMD (bone mineral density). The secondary purpose was to determine if there was an interaction between physical activity and pubertal growth on BMC and BMD in young males. The subjects who participated in this study included 78 males. Each subject met two separate criteria for inclusion into the study. The first was level of maturation, each subject had to be either prepubescent or post-pubescent. The second criteria was physical activity, each subject had ot be either low active or high active. There were 20 subjects in each prepubescent group and 19 subjects in each post-pubescent group. BMC and BMD were measured by dual energy radiography using the Hologic QDR-2000 Bone Densitometer (Hologic, Inc., Waltham, MA) and by SPA using a Norland-Cameron Bone Mineral Analyzer (Model 278A, Norland Instruments, Fort Atkinson, WI). Additional measures of physique, body composition, nutritional intake and caloric expenditure were obtained. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine differences between high and low active groups within each level of maturation (prepubescent, post-pubescent). The dependent variables were BMC and BMD of the total body, proximal femur, lumbar spine, lateral lumbar spine and midshaft of the right and left radii. The prepubescent or post-pubescent groups did not differ in age, height or weight. The results indicated prepubescent high active subjects averaged 4.5 hr/week more activity than low active subjects. In the post-pubescent group the high active subjects averaged 8.1 more hr/week. There was a significant relationship of physical activity to greater BMC and BMD for all dependent variables. In the prepubescent males, BMC and BMD were significantly greater for the high active prepubescent males in all dependent variables except lumbar BMC and right radius BMD. In the post-pubescent males, the high active subjects had significantly greater BMC and BMD than their low active counterparts on all dependent variables. There was an interaction between maturation and physical activity on lumbar and proximal femur BMC in the group of adolescent males. There were no other interactions found. There was a significant relationship between maturation and greater BMC and BMD for all dependent variables.
• In conclusion, physical activity showed a relationship to greater BMC and BMD in adolescent males. The results of the study suggest that prepubescent and post-pubescent males having a higher level of physical activity may have greater bone mineral content and bone density than less their less active males at the same level of maturation.

Graduation Semester

1994

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/71089

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