Body composition and bone mineral density in athletes with a physical impairment
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The impact of the type and the severity of disability on whole-body and regional body composition (BC), and bone mineral density (BMD) must be considered for dietary advice in athletes with a physical impairment (PI). This study aimed to investigate the impact of the type and the severity of disability on BC, the pattern of distribution of fat mass at the regional level, and BMD in athletes with a PI.
METHODS: Forty-two male athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI, n = 24; age = 40.04 ± 9.95 years, Body Mass Index [BMI] = 23.07 ± 4.01 kg/m2) or unilateral lower limb amputation (AMP, n = 18; age = 34.39 ± 9.19 years, BMI = 22.81 ± 2.63 kg/m2) underwent a Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry scan. Each athlete with a PI was matched by age with an able-bodied athlete (AB, n = 42; age = 37.81 ± 10.31 years, BMI = 23.94 ± 1.8 kg/m2).
RESULTS: One-Way Analysis of Variance showed significant differences between the SCI, AMP and AB groups for percentage fat mass (%FM) (P < 0.001, eta squared = 0.440). Post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni's correction showed that athletes with SCI had significantly higher %FM vs. the AMP and AB groups (25.45 ± 5.99%, 21.45 ± 4.21% and 16.69 ± 2.56%, respectively; P = 0.008 vs. AMP and P < 0.001 vs. AB). The %FM was also significantly higher in the AMP vs. the AB group (P < 0.001). Whole-body BMD was negatively affected in SCI athletes, with about half of them showing osteopenia or osteoporosis. In fact, the mean BMD and T-score values in the SCI…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Development of a crushable foam model for human trabecular bone
- Data-driven motion compensation in HR-pQCT.
- Modeling of structure, quality, and function in the orthodontic patient
- Exploring the mechanism of Heidihuang Pill in the treatment of osteoporosis based on network pharmacology, molecular docking, and experimental validation
- Effect of fabric on the accuracy of computed tomography-based finite element analyses of the vertebra
- Use of interventions involving virtual reality tasks during the climacteric: a systematic review
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.