Original ArticlesA school-based exercise intervention augments bone mineral accrual in early pubertal girls☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Design
This study was a randomized, prospective, school-based intervention that included 7 intervention and 7 control elementary schools. Baseline measurements were made during the fall of the school year (September to October); the intervention was completed from late October to late May (7 months in duration); and final measurements were made at the end of the school year (June).
Subjects
We recruited principals, teachers, and students from Richmond, a multi-ethnic school district outside of Vancouver,
Subjects
A total of 8 girls attending a control school changed schools, and 6 girls attending an intervention school did not return for follow-up measures (1 lost interest, 5 changed schools). Thus, prospective data were available for 26 PRE girls in the C group and 44 PRE girls in the I group and 64 EARLY girls in the C group and 43 EARLY girls in the I group (N = 177).
Classes at intervention schools performed the circuit intervention a mean of 57 times (SD, 10) over the school year. We estimated that
Discussion
This prospective intervention study showed a maturity-related, region-specific bone response to weight-bearing exercise in prepubertal and early pubertal girls. This has important practical implications for school physical education programs. Girls who were early pubertal at the start of the exercise intervention program gained significantly more bone at the FN and LS than their maturity-matched, nonparticipating counterparts. In contrast, the exercise intervention did not promote bone gain in
Acknowledgements
We thank the grades 4, 5, and 6 students, teachers, and principals in the Richmond School District who volunteered their time and resources for this study.
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Supported by the British Columbia Health Research Foundation (No. 2400-2, 10898-2).
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Reprint requests: Heather McKay, PhD, School of Human Kinetics, 6081 University Blvd, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6R 1N6, Canada.