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Skeletal Consequences Of Physical Activity

  • Chapter
Osteoporosis: Genetics, Prevention and Treatment

Part of the book series: Endocrine Updates ((ENDO,volume 3))

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Abstract

The beneficial effects of physical activity on the skeleton are widely touted, and optimism abounds that increased activity in the form of recreational exercise will promote peak bone mass, maintain bone density throughout adult life, restore established deficits in bone density, and prevent osteoporotic fracture. This chapter reviews current evidence that addresses these issues. The notion that physical activity may influence the skeleton dates back more than a century to the German scientist, Julius Wolff (1), who crystallized the concept, known subsequently as Wolff’s law, that bone responds to the habitual loading environment that is placed on it by modifying its amount and distribution. Thus, if a person increases the customary loads on his femur by gaining weight, femoral mass and trabecular density will also increase until the load experience per unit of bone has been restored to initial values; if he loses weight, bone mass will decrease in a commensurate fashion. The role of this adaptive response appears to be the optimization of load experienced at any point in the skeleton, so that mass and trabecular density are maintained at the minimum level to accommodate demand.

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Authors
  1. Robert Marcus M.D.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA

    John S. Adams M.D.

  2. University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

    Barbara P. Lukert M.D.

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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Marcus, R. (1999). Skeletal Consequences Of Physical Activity. In: Adams, J.S., Lukert, B.P. (eds) Osteoporosis: Genetics, Prevention and Treatment. Endocrine Updates, vol 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5115-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5115-7_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7327-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-5115-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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