de Avila Josiel Almeida, Melloni Mauro Augusto Schreiter, Pascoa Mauro Alexandre, Cirolini Vagner Xavier, Barbeta Camila Justino de Oliveira, de Avila Rafael Almeida, Gonçalves Ezequiel Moreira, Guerra-Junior Gil
Growth and Body Composition Lab, Center for Investigation in Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), 126 Tessália Vieira de Camargo Rue, Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, 13083-887 - Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), 1000 Roraima Avenue, Cidade Universitária, Camobi, 97105-900 - Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Mil Med. 2019 Jul 1;184(7-8):e353-e359. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usz001.
Physical activity (PA) has a great influence on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC), however longitudinal studies that seek to relate bone mass to physical activity are scarce and have a small sample size. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of 7 months of military physical training (MPT), impact sports (IS), and swimming in the bone mass of young military adults.
A prospective study was conducted with 213 military school students (male and aged 19.2 ± 1.2 years) divided into three groups: MPT (n = 144), IS (n = 56), and Swimming (n = 13). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to determine body composition (percentage of fat, fat mass, and fat-free mass) and bone mass (BMD, BMD Z-Score, total BMC, arm BMC, leg BMC, and trunk BMC), at the beginning of the military service and after 7 months of training.
It was observed a significant increase in BMD, BMD Z-Score, total BMC and BMC of all segments analyzed for all groups (p < 0.01). There was a significantly greater variation in BMD of the IS group in relation to the MPT group (p < 0.01), and in the arm BMC of the MPT group in relation to the IS group (p < 0.05).
After 7 months of training, there were significant increases in BMC and BMD of all the groups evaluated. The bone response was associated with the muscular group used in the physical exercise and the IS group showed greater gain in BMD.
