Dancing for bone health: A 3-year longitudinal study of bone mineral accrual across puberty in female non-elite dancers and controls

Abstract

Introduction: Weight-bearing exercise during growth enhances peak bone mass. However, the window of opportunity for optimizing positive effects of exercise on peak bone mass remains to be fully defined. Ballet dancing provides a model of mechanical loading patterns required to site-specifically modulate bone. Methods: We assessed the effects of ballet dancing on bone mineral accrual in female non-elite dancers and normally active controls for 3 years across puberty. We recruited 82 ballet dancers and 61 controls age 8-11 years at baseline. Participants were measured over 3 consecutive years; however, the overlap in ages allowed analysis of the groups across 8-14 years of age. We annually ass..