Is swimming able to maintain bone health and to minimize postmenopausal bone resorption?

We studied the effect of swimming on the somatic and bone growth of female rats.

40 neonate Wistar female rats were separated into: monosodium glutamate group (GluM, n = 20) and received MSG solution (4.0 mg/g) on alternate days during the first 14 days after birth, and Saline group (SAL, n = 20) which received saline solution for the same period of time and at the same dose.At 60 days of age, GluM group was ovariectomized (GluMO) and SAL group just suffered surgical stress. Subsequently, half the animals in each group started swimming, resulting in groups: sedentary saline (SALsed, n = 10), swimming saline (SALswi, n = 10), sedentary ovariectomized Glutamate (GluMOsed, n = 10) and swimming ovariectomized Glutamate (GluMOswi, n = 10). At the end of the experiment, we measured the animals' longitudinal length and weight; their radius was weighed and its length measured.

The animals of the GluMOsed group had lower body weight and longitudinal length compared to SALsed. Swimming decreased body weight, but had no influence on the longitudinal length of the GluMOswi group compared to GluMOsed group. Longitudinal length and body weight were lower in SALswi animals compared to SALsed animals. Radius weight and length of GluMOsed animals were lower than in SALsed animals. There was no difference in these parameters between GluMOsed and GluMOswi groups; however, these parameters were lower in SALswi animals compared to SALsed animals.

Swimming does not influence previously affected bone tissue during the neonatal period, however it may cause damage to healthy bone tissue.