Bone response to varied volumes of bicycling in adult males

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Human Performance StudiesThis study was designed to investigate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and weekly training volume (TV) in recreational adult male cyclists. Methods: Eleven male participants (n=11; 38.9 +/- 5.5 yrs) were tested in duplicate, 12 weeks apart, for BMD at four sites: total body (TB), lumbar (L), hip (H), and distal radius (R). Participants were also measured for weight, % body fat, and VO2max. TV, in hours, over the 12 weeks was also recorded for each participant at their usual self-selected volume. Statistics: BMD values from the first testing session were standardized using reference values for a healthy adult male population aged 30 yrs. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated for all second session BMD measurements against TV, weight and age. One-way ANOVA was used to compare BMD values between groups with TV > 10 hr/wk (moderate) and TV < 5 hr/wk (low). Significance for all analyses was set at p < 0.05. Results: Mean scores were found for TV (7.65 +/- 3.24 hr/wk), VO2max (4411.5 +/- 522.0 ml), weight (80.1 +/- 15.4 kg), and % body fat (17.7 +/- 5.1 %). No significant correlations were found between any BMD measurement (TB, L, H, R) and TV (r = 0.216, r = -0.079, r = -0.248, r = 0.342). No differences in BMD at any site were observed between the low volume and moderate volume groups. Conclusion: The results suggest that there is no significant relationship between training volume and bone mineral density at the total body, lumbar spine, hip, and distal radius in adult male cyclists. In addition, it was concluded that road cycling at low to moderate training volumes is not associated with a deleterious effect on bone