Bone mineral acquisition and somatic development in highly trained girl gymnasts

The present study was conducted to investigate both skeletal and somatic developments in a group of highly trained prepubertal girl gymnasts at the beginning of their peak bone mass acquisition. The experimental group included 14 gymnasts who had trained 12—15 h per wk for 3 y before starting the study. The control group consisted of 15 non‐exerciser children and 6 swimmers training for 5—6 h/wk. Body composition and bone mineral density (BMD) of the total body, lumbar spine, non‐dominant hip and radius were measured using dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry. Calculation of bone age and measurement of body height and weight were done. All measurements and analyses were carried out twice with a 1‐y interval by the same technician. There were no differences between groups in age, bone age, body height and weight and lean tissue mass at the start of the study and 1 y later. The somatic changes observed between the first and second years tended to be greater in gymnasts compared to controls, except for body height. At the first and second investigations, BMD values in the gymnasts were statistically higher than in the controls at all skeletal sites, but not for the whole body (from p < 0.05 to p < 0.001, depending on the site). Percentage changes in BMD pre‐investigation compared with post‐investigation tended to be greater in gymnasts. Variations in lean mass, bone age and fat mass were found to be the best independent predictors of annual changes in BMD for total body, lumbar spine, trochanter and femoral neck sites. These results suggested that high‐volume impact loading training could promote a higher annual gain in bone mineral acquisition at the strained body sites in prepubertal girls without affecting somatic growth dimensions. □ Bone mass, growth, gymnasts, prepubertal training, somatic development