High-Impact Training Can Build Bone in Older Women

A study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine 2020 Annual Meeting determined that high-impact strength training could boost bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women, reports Medscape . The researchers examined 101 postmenopausal women, and learned that BMD in the lumbar spine and femoral neck regions and functional performance measures was significantly improved in 49 participants randomized to high-intensity resistance and impact training (HiRIT) for eight months, compared to 52 randomized to low-intensity training. Three years later the team reassessed 23 participants in the HiRIT group. They found that lumbar spine and femoral neck BMT was significantly better in that population who continued HiRIT in the 16 who did not. However, the women who discontinued HiRIT after eight months maintained the BMT gains they had realized three years earlier. "The takeaway here is that this type of exercise appears to be a highly effective therapy to reduce risk of osteoporotic fracture, since it improves bone mass," said Griffith University School of Allied Health Sciences Professor Belinda Beck.