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Skeletal benefits of physical activity early in life persist lifelong
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2014.125
Warden et al. performed a unique study on retired baseball players to investigate whether intense activity in early adulthood correlates with improved bone properties during later life.
A total of 103 baseball players at different stages of their career were assessed for differences between their throwing and non-throwing arm compared to 94 age-matched controls. While still active, baseball players showed the signs of extreme loading in their humeral diaphysis; the bone had double the strength of the one in the opposite arm.
After the end of their baseball career, ex-players showed a loss of bone mass, thickness and area due to a loss of cortical bone and an increase in trabecular bone. However, this loss was curtailed in those who carried on throwing in a non-professional capacity. Furthermore, half of the increase in total cross-sectional bone area and a third of the polar moment of inertia (a measure of bone strength) persisted throughout life.
Editor’s comment: QCT analysis of the humerus in active and retired baseball players shows a time-dependent loss of bone mass gained during the years of intense biomechanical stimulation, but not a complete loss of the gain in estimated strength. This observation supports the notion that the early cortical bone mass gain by periosteal apposition cannot be decompensated even after many years of endosteal remodeling. This is one of the few studies to demonstrate the persistent benefits of early, intense mechanical loading on bone strength.
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