Study Shows High-Impact Exercise Builds Stronger Bones
New research suggests men who want to keep their bones strong may want to add running to their exercise routine, Reuters reported.
Researchers found in a study of 42 athletic men between the ages of 19 and 45 that running seemed to have even bigger benefits for bone mass than strength training.
Data showed that both runners and weight trainers had greater bone density in the spine compared with road cyclists, however, much of the benefit in weight trainers seemed to stem from their greater muscle mass.
The study also found that running appeared to build bone density regardless of the men’s muscle mass.
Senior researcher Pamela S. Hinton, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia, said the results of the study confirm that both resistance training and high-impact endurance activities increase bone mineral density.
Hinton wrote in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that high-impact sports, like running, seem to show a greater beneficial effect.
Bone is living tissue that reacts to exercise by becoming stronger, making exercises that require the body to work against gravity, such as running, jumping and weight training, are the most effective. Low- impact activities, such as cycling or swimming, put relatively little stress on the bones.
The authors reported that cyclists generally had the lowest bone density at all body sites measured. But Hinton’s team said such sports-related differences diminished once they factored in the men’s muscle mass.
Weight trainers and runners still had greater bone density in the spine even with muscle mass considered, researchers said. And the effects of running appeared to be independent of muscle mass.
The study suggests athletes involved in low-impact sports like swimming, cycling and rowing add weight training or high-impact activities to their workouts. Hinton said it was key to target muscles all over the body.
She also recommended that certain exercise programs aimed at increasing bone strength should be designed using what is known about how bones respond to exercise.
 "Only the skeletal sites that experience increased stress from exercise will become stronger."
———-
On The Net: