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Bone bending strength and BMD of female athletes in volleyball, soccer, and long-distance running

  • Original Article
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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to determine whether sports training comprised of (1) high-impact loading sport in volleyball (VOL), (2) odd impact loading sport in soccer (SOC), and (3) low impact sport in distance running (RUN) were associated with tibial bending strength and calcaneus bone mineral density (BMD), and ulnar bending strength and wrist BMD.

Method

Female athletes comprised of 13 VOL, 22 SOC, and 22 RUN participated in the study. Twenty-three female non-athletes (NA) served as the comparison group. Tibial and ulnar bending strength (EI, Nm2) were assessed using a mechanical response tissue analyzer (MRTA). Calcaneus and wrist BMD were assessed using a peripheral X-ray absorptiometry. Group means differences among the study groups were determined using ANCOVA with age, weight, height, percent body fat, ethnicity/race, and training history serving as covariates.

Results

Tibial EI of VOL (228.3 ± 138 Nm2) and SOC (208.6 ± 115 Nm2) were greater (p < 0.05) compared to NA (101.2 ± 42 Nm2). Ulnar EI of SOC (54.9 ± 51 Nm2) was higher (p < 0.05) than NA (27.2 ± 9 Nm2). Calcaneus BMD of VOL (0.618 ± 0.12 g/cm2), SOC (0.621 ± 0.009 g/cm2), and RUN (0.572 ± 0.007 g/cm2) were higher (p < 0.05) than NA (0.501 ± 0.08 g/cm2), but not different between athletic groups. Wrist BMD of VOL (0.484 ± .06 g/cm2) and SOC (0.480 ± 0.06 g/cm2) were higher (p < 0.05) than NA (0.443 ± 0.04 g/cm2).

Conclusions

Female VOL athletes exhibit greater tibial bending strength than RUN and NA, but not greater than SOC. Female SOC athletes exhibit greater ulnar bending strength and wrist BMD than NA.

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Data availability

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Abbreviations

ANCOVA:

Analysis of covariance

BMD:

Bone mineral density

BMI:

Body mass index

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide content

CON:

Control group

DXA:

Dual X-ray absorptiometry

E :

Material elastic property of Young’s modules

EI :

Bone bending strength in Nm2

I :

Cross-sectional moment of inertia and resistance of bending loads

K b :

Lateral bending strength of bone

L:

Bone length

MRTA:

Mechanical response tissue analyzer

NCAA:

United States National Collegiate Athletic Association

O2 :

Oxygen content

PIXI:

Peripheral X-ray absorptiometry

QMT:

Quasistatic mechanical testing

RER:

Respiratory exchange ratio

RPE:

Rating of perceived exertion

RMSE:

Root mean squared error

RUN:

Distance runners

SOC:

Soccer players

VO2max :

Maximal oxygen uptake

VOL:

Volleyball players

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Provost’s Teacher-Scholar Award 2017 to M.T.C.L. The authors express their great appreciation to our graduate students, the coaches for their assistance in the project, and the participants for their time, effort, and commitment in completing the study. We also express our appreciation to NASA Ames Research Center, Life Science Division for lending us the MRTA instrument to conduct the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, 91768, USA

    Jose Rocha-Rangel, Michael T. C. Liang, Alexandra T. Auslander, Patricia Robles & Yuan-Lieh Kwoh

  2. Primary Care Division, Health Tap, Mountain View, CA, 94040, USA

    Anderson Hwa-te Tsai

  3. Life Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, 94035, USA

    Sara B. Arnaud

Authors
  1. Jose Rocha-Rangel
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection for bone bending strength assessment, BMD, and VO2max assessments were performed by MTCL, JRR, AHT, PR, YLK, and SAB. Statistical analyses were performed by ATA and JRR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MTCL and SAB, and all authors commented on all versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael T. C. Liang.

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Conflict of interest

Michael T.C. Liang, Jose Rocha-Rangel, Anderson Hwa-te Tsai, Alexandra T Auslander, Patricia Robles, Yuan-Lieh Kwoh and Sara B Arnaud declare that they have no completing financial interests and have no professional relationships with the manufacturer of the bone bending strength instrument, and the BMD scanner used in this project that may benefit from the results of this manuscript. The authors stated that this manuscript is solely submitted to the European Journal of Applied Physiology for consideration.

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Communicated by Philip D. Chilibeck.

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Rocha-Rangel, J., Liang, M.T.C., Tsai, A.Ht. et al. Bone bending strength and BMD of female athletes in volleyball, soccer, and long-distance running. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 2213–2223 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05231-2

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