In a study comparing young soccer players to swimmers, cyclists and a control group of boys not involved in regular sport, an international team of researchers found soccer (European football) led to better bones after one year of training. The results are published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
According to Vlachopoulos et al, bone acquisition is higher in adolescent male soccer players compared to swimmers and cyclists at the femoral neck and lumbar spine sites of the skeleton. Image credit: Sasin Tipchai.
Adolescence is the key period for bone development, and poor development at this stage is linked to reduced peak bone mass (the amount of bone mass at the end of the skeletal maturation, around age 30), increased fracture risk and osteoporosis later in life.
“Adolescence is the key time for bone growth. Once a person reaches puberty, the next five years are vitally important in this respect,” said study senior author Dr. Luis Gracia-Marco, of the University of Exeter, UK.
“We already knew exercise was key for bone growth, but here we clarify what type of exercise,” said study lead author Dimitris Vlachopoulos, also of the University of Exeter.
“Our research shows that playing soccer can improve bone development in comparison to swimming and cycling.”
The year-long study, of 116 boys (37 swimmers, 37 soccer players, 29 cyclists and 14 active controls) aged 12-14, took a variety of measures including bone mineral content (BMC).
The measurements were taken at the lumbar spine (lower back) and femoral neck (upper leg) — both key sites for both fractures and osteoporosis.
“We focused on aspiring professionals who played as much as nine hours a week, playing soccer for three hours a week might be enough for a substantial effect,” Vlachopoulos said.
The results showed soccer players had higher BMC than swimmers and cyclists after one year of sport-specific training.
For example, soccer players’ BMC was 7% higher than that of cyclists at the lumbar spine, and 5% higher at the femoral neck.
Despite the many health benefits of cycling and swimming, the study found little difference in bone development between cyclists, swimmers and the control group.
“This raises a question about whether swimming and cycling are good for bone development,” Dr. Gracia-Marco said.
“We now need to consider how to counteract the lack of bone growth stimulus caused by cycling and swimming, possibly by encouraging swimmers and cyclists to add weight-bearing exercise in their training.”
“Although we didn’t study other sports, it’s reasonable to suppose that weight-bearing, high-impact, high-intensity exercise like tennis, badminton, basketball and handball will have similar effects to soccer,” the scientists said.
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Dimitris Vlachopoulos et al. Longitudinal Adaptations of Bone Mass, Geometry and Metabolism in Adolescent Male Athletes. The PRO-BONE Study. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, published online July 7, 2017; doi: 10.1002/jbmr.3206
