Multimodal high-intensity gymnastics induced marked osteogenic impact for postmenopausal women

Multimodal training characterized by diverse, large, and novel bone strains improves bone mass, but after menopause the evidence is inconsistent. This intervention evaluated the osteogenic efficacy of multimodal high-intensity gymnastics for postmenopausal women.

Thirty-three healthy women participated in a 19-week controlled intervention followed by 11-weeks detraining: Group I (N.=21): 3x30 min fully supervised and personalized gymnastics weekly (age 57.1±4.8 yrs; weight 64.5±8.1 kg; BMI 22.9±2.9 kg/m²; VO2max 30.3±3.9 mL/kg/min [mean±SD]). Group C (N.=12): Controls (age 57.9±3.9 yrs; weight 63.9±10.6 kg; BMI 22.7±3.0 kg/m²; VO2max 30.4±4.9 mL/kg/min [mean±SD]). Primary outcomes: lumbar spine (L1-L4) and total proximal femur (TPF) bone mineral density (BMD) (g/cm²) and markers of bone formation (procollagen type-I amino-terminal propeptide [PINP] and osteocalcin [OC] µg/L) and resorption (C-terminal telopeptide of type-I collagen [CTX-I], ng/L).

Post-intervention, percent ΔBMD (mean±SEM) were larger for I than C in L1-L4 (0.9±0.5% vs. -1.1±0.8%, P<0.05) and right (0.8±0.4% vs. -1.0±0.3%, P<0.005) and left (0.7±0.3% vs. -0.5±0.3%, P<0.05) TPF. Percent ΔOC (mean±SEM) were larger (P<0.005) for I than C after 3 weeks (11.7±20.5% vs. -9.3±19.4%), 12 weeks (23.7±17.6% vs. -11.5±29.0%) and post-intervention (18.0±25.9% vs. -14.8±28.6%). Percent ΔPINP and ΔCTX-I did not differ between I and C, despite consistent significant increases in PINP for I. Following detraining, percent ΔBMD between-group differences had increased further in L1-L4 (P<0.005) and right TPF (P<0.001).

The osteogenic impact of 19-weeks high-intensity gymnastics for postmenopausal women was significant and consistent regardless of the assessment method. Thus, gymnastics proved to be effective to counteract the postmenopausal BMD reductions.