Objective. To examine the effect of the practice of physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF) levels on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) in upper limbs (UL) in adults men with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Methods. 30 subjects (age 29,9 ± 7, 9 years) with chronic SCI, ASIA A-B, dorsal or lumbar level participated in the study. The sample was divided into 2 groups: high and low workload of PA practice. Moreover, subjects were classified into 3 groups of PF using percentiles 33 and 66: low, medium and high PF. BMC and BMD was measured using dual X-ray densitometry (Hologic Discovery QDR, Bedford, EEUU). PA habits were collected by questionnaire and to determine PF (VO2peak) an incremental exercise test was done using an electrical arm cranking (Lode Angio, Groningen, Netherland). A t-Student test (for independent samples) and one-factor ANOVA were performed to analyze differences in the dependent variables between groups.
Results. No significant differences were obtained in BMD and BMC between PF groups. Regarding to PA those with a high workload showed similar BMD and BMC levels than low workload group (BMD: 0,88 ± 0,1 vs 0,84 ± 0,1 g/cm2), (BMC: 440,8 ± 0,9 vs 402,1 ± 64,7 g).
Conclusions. Despite PA practice could improve bone health in SCI subjects, in this study bone health was similar between different groups of PA and PF. Further studies on the effect of PA in bone health are needed in SCI people.
Corresponding author. irenevalde@hotmail.com
