Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the effects of physical activity on cortical
bone of the radius in a population of prepubertal girls. Forty-nine healthy girls,
17 actives (10.62 ± 1.56 years) and 32 controls (9.84 ± 1.23 years) participated in
this study. The active group was involved in gymnastics, judo, and dance on average
7.76 ± 3.94 h/week. Bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD) were performed at
the distal third of the non-dominant radius using DXA. The lean mass of the non-dominant
forearm was derived from the total body analysis performed with DXA. In order to obtain
bone cortical thickness, standard radiographs of the non-dominant radius were scanned
and computed using a software program based on radiogrammetry. BMD and BMC values
were higher in actives than in controls. Cortical thickness at the ulnar side correlated
significantly with all the anthropometric and densitometric values as well as the
duration of training. In addition, cortical thickness at the ulnar side was significantly
higher in the actives compared to the controls. After adjustment for the duration
of training per week, cortical thickness of the ulnar side did not differ any more
between actives and controls. The same observation was obtained after adjustment for
the forearm lean mass. In our active population, physical practice seemed to have
induced greater BMC and higher cortical thickness than those observed in the sedentary.
Key words
Radiogrammetry - lean mass - gradient - densitometry - grey level - cortical thickness
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Prof. Daniel Courteix
Laboratoire de la Performance Motrice
Université d'Orléans BP 6237
45062 Orléans Cedex 2
France
eMail: Daniel.courteix@univ-orleans.fr
