Alpine skiing is associated with higher femoral neck bone mineral density.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the influence of elite-level alpine skiing on athletes' skeleton.


METHODS
Thirteen professional alpine skiers (9 males and 4 females with mean age of 22.6 years) and their age- and height matched control subjects were measured with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (total body, lumbar spine, proximal femur, forearm) and quantitative ultrasound (hand).


RESULTS
After adjusting for sex, age, weight and height, between-group differences were 15% (p=0.012) for the lumbar spine, 14% (p=0.022) for the femoral neck, 10% (p=0.051) for the total hip, and 11% (p=0.001) for the total body favoring the alpine skiers. However, after controlling for total body lean mass (~muscle mass), the group-differences lost their statistical significance, the borderline 10% difference (p=0.051) in femoral neck BMD excluded.


CONCLUSIONS
Factors contributing to the alpine skiers' higher BMD may not only include the greater muscle mass (~stronger muscles) of these athletes but also a large number of impacts and possibly other high-frequency features in external loading generated by the high-speed skiing performance.
The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Tampere, Finland.
H
H
Sievänen
P
P
Zagorski
B
B
Drozdzowska
H
H
Vähä-Ypyä
D
D
Boron
P
P
Adamczyk
W
W
Pluskiewicz
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D056352:Athletes; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D012865:Skiing / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult