Abstract
BackgroundTraining volume is associated with direct and indirect pathways of bone adaptations. In addition, training volume is a training variable associated with lean soft tissue (LST), which has been shown to be an important predictor of areal bone mineral density (aBMD). Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the influential role of lean soft tissue (LST) in the association between training volume and aBMD in male adolescent athletes.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was composed of 299 male adolescent athletes, mean age 14.1 (1.8) years, from 9 different weight-bearing modalities. The Ethical Board approved the investigation. The adolescents reported the number of days per week they trained and the time spent training and, from this, the training volume (h/wk) was estimated. The LST and aBMD were assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Somatic maturation was estimated by the peak of height velocity. Mediation analysis was performed to investigate the role of LST in the association between training volume and aBMD. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05.ResultsLST partially explained the association between training volume and aBMD in all body segments: upper limbs (58.37%; β = 0.00142), lower limbs (28.35%; β = 0.00156), spine (33.80%; β = 0.00124), and whole body (41.82%, β = 0.00131). There was no direct effect of training volume on aBMD in upper limbs (CI -0.00085 to 0.00287). Conclusion: The association between training volume and aBMD is influenced by LST in different body segments, mainly upper limbs, demonstrating that interventions aiming to enhance aBMD should also consider LST as an important variable to be managed.
Highlights
Training volume is associated with direct and indirect pathways of bone adaptations
Partial correlations were tested between dependent, mediation, and independent variables
Similar results were found in the analysis of the relationship between lean soft tissue (LST) and areal bone mineral density (aBMD) of all segments: upper limbs (r = 0.448), lower limbs (r = 0.507), spine (r = 0.451), and whole body (r = 0.548)
Summary
Training volume is associated with direct and indirect pathways of bone adaptations. In addition, training volume is a training variable associated with lean soft tissue (LST), which has been shown to be an important predictor of areal bone mineral density (aBMD). Sports participation stimulates other tissues, such as lean soft tissue (LST), which is associated with higher areal bone mineral density (aBMD), through the increased body mass (increased mechanical loads) [3], and through muscular contractions [9]. This mechanism stimulates the bones to adapt (raising the recruitment of bone cells [i.e. osteocytes, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts]) to support the stress generated by the muscular action [10]
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