title: Effect of Exercise Program and Calcium Supplements on Low Bone Mass among Young Indian Women- A Comparative Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Low bone mass is a major health concern among young women nowadays due to sedentary lifestyle and lack of calcium rich food intake. Therefore there is an increase in the incidence of LBM among young university women so our main purpose of study was to compare effects of exercise program and calcium supplements on bone mass in young women.
  
  
  METHODS
  This single blinded, cross sectional study included data collection in the form of SOS T-scores at distal radius for 104 young university women of mean age 22.3 years using Sunlight Omnisense Bone Sonometer 7000S. Of these, 62 women with low bone mass were included in a 3 month study but 60 subjects completed the study. They were randomly divided into 3 groups: exercise group (n=21), calcium supplementation group (n=21) and control group (n=20). All participants were evaluated pre and post protocol for T-score distal radius and midshaft tibia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After measuring SOS T-score of 104 subjects; we found that 60.57% had low bone mass and remaining 39.43% had normal bone mass. After 3 months, the exercise group showed significant improvement in distal radius SOS T-score (t=5.10, P<0.001), at midshaft tibia (t=3.71, P<0.001) followed by improvement in calcium group at distal radius (t=6.28, P<0.001), midshaft tibia (t=2.33, P<0.05) as compared to control group which showed a marginal increase.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exercise group showed more improvement in T-scores than calcium and control group. Exercise is important modifiable factor to improve bone accretion at this age and reduce risk of developing osteoporosis related debilitating conditions later in life.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab.
authors.forename: Shweta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shenoy
authors.forename: Neha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dhawan
authors.forename: Jaspal Singh
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sandhu