ArticleBritish journal of sports medicine2007
Regional bone mineral density in male athletes: a comparison of soccer players, runners and controls.
Article in British journal of sports medicine, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 155 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Bone Biomarker Response to an Acute Bout of Exercise: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Pooled it
- The Effects of Exercise on Bone Mineral Density in Men: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials.Calcified tissue international · 2022Pooled it
- Single high-dose vitamin D supplementation impacts ultramarathon-induced changes in serum levels of bone turnover markers: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025Trial
- Vitamin D Status and Supplementation and the Functional Outcomes of Human Musculoskeletal Tissues: A Stratified Systematic Review.Health science reports · 2026Review
- Musculoskeletal Health, Quality, and Injury Profiles in Collegiate Track and Field and Cross-Country Athletes.Journal of musculoskeletal & neuronal interactions · 2025Article
- The Muscle-Bone Unit in Male Elite Soccer Players Aged 14-19.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Variations over time in proximal femoral strength in young adult men are not explained by areal bone mineral density alone.JBMR plus · 2025Article
- Basketball's Improvement in Bone Mineral Density Compared to Other Sports or Free Exercise Practice in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Lower Bone Mineral Density in Female Elite Athletes With Menstrual Dysfunction From Mixed Sports.Translational sports medicine · 2025Article
- Identification of specific injury-related SNPs in high-level athletes of Arab origin: A pilot study.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Comparison of bone mineral density of runners with inactive males: A cross-sectional 4HAIE study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Changes of bone turnover markers and testosterone in Japanese male endurance runners: a pilot study.Journal of bone and mineral metabolism · 2023Article
- External training load is associated with adaptation in bone and body composition over the course of a season in elite male footballers.Bone reports · 2023Article
- Relationship between Football-Specific Training Characteristics and Tibial Bone Adaptation in Male Academy Football Players.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The Relationship Between Muscular Strength, Jump Power, and Bone Health in Collegiate Distance Runners.International journal of exercise science · 2023Article
- Characteristics of total body and appendicular bone mineral content and density in Japanese collegiate Sumo wrestlers.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- The female athlete triad.Annals of joint · 2022Review
- Relationship Between Ground Reaction Force Characteristics and Bone Mineral Density of the Hip and Spine in Male Runners.International journal of exercise science · 2022Article
- Bone mineral density in high-level endurance runners: part A-site-specific characteristics.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate the association of soccer playing and long-distance running with total and regional bone mineral density (BMD).
designCross-sectional study.
settingAcademic medical centre.
participantsElite male soccer players (n = 15), elite male long-distance runners (n = 15) and sedentary male controls (n = 15) aged 20-30 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: BMD (g/cm2) of the lumbar spine (L1-L4), right hip, right leg and total body were assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and a scan of the right calcaneus was performed with a peripheral instantaneous x-ray imaging bone densitometer.
resultsAfter adjustment for age, weight and percentage body fat, soccer players had significantly higher whole body, spine, right hip, right leg and calcaneal BMD than controls (p = 0.008, p = 0.041, p<0.001, p = 0.019, p<0.001, respectively) and significantly higher right hip and spine BMD than runners (p = 0.012 and p = 0.009, respectively). Runners had higher calcaneal BMD than controls (p = 0.002). Forty percent of the runners had T-scores of the lumbar spine between -1 and -2.5. Controls were similar: 34% had T-scores below -1 (including 7% with T-scores lower than -2.5).
conclusionsPlaying soccer is associated with higher BMD of the skeleton at all sites measured. Running is associated with higher BMD at directly loaded sites (the calcaneus) but not at relatively unloaded sites (the spine). Specific loading conditions, seen in ball sports or in running, play a pivotal role in skeletal adaptation. The importance of including an appropriate control group in clinical studies is underlined.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.