Bone Density Does Not Necessarily Measure Bone Strength
Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin
The greater the force you put on your bones during exercise, the stronger they become. Researchers at the University of Missouri in Columbia showed that recreational runners have denser bones than cyclists (Journal of Metabolism, February 2008). Another study from Université de St-Etienne in France show that youth soccer players have an increase in bone density over three years of playing high level soccer (Joint Bone Spine, January 2008). They failed to show that the soccer players had denser bones than their classmates, yet their intuition told them that heavy forces on bones while playing soccer must strengthen bones, so they stated that “The yearly gain in bone density is greater in soccer players than in controls.”
