Bone health in endurance athletes: runners, cyclists, and swimmers.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search or meta-analysis
PubMed 23147022 · doi:10.1249/JSR.0b013e3182779193
What was done
This narrative review summarizes the literature on bone health across endurance disciplines, including distance running, cycling, swimming, and triathlons. It addresses bone-loading characteristics, energy expenditure, stress and fragility fracture risks, and clinical strategies for the diagnosis, prevention, and management of low bone mineral density (BMD) in endurance athletes.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data or effect sizes. It notes qualitatively that adolescent and adult endurance athletes, particularly those in non-weight-bearing sports such as cycling and swimming, frequently have lower BMD than athletes in ball and power sports and occasionally lower BMD than inactive peers, increasing their susceptibility to stress and fragility fractures.
Why it matters
It emphasizes that high-volume endurance exercise—particularly non-impact sports—does not inherently build skeletal density and may place athletes at risk for impaired bone health and fractures.
Limits
The paper is a narrative overview without systematic search criteria or meta-analytic pooling. The abstract provides no sample sizes, sport-specific quantitative comparisons, or empirical effect estimates.
Cited by
- supports Non-weight-bearing exercises such as cycling, swimming, and elliptical training do not produce substantial osteogenic effects on bone mineral density compared to weight-bearing exercise.