The Long-Term Effects of Teen Athletics

New research reveals males who were involved with athletics in their later teens had bone-building advantages later in life, regardless of future training. Weight training as well as weight-bearing aerobic training helps to increase bone mineral density or BMD. The more dense the bone, the less likely there will be a fracture. Thus, those with higher BMDs, especially in the pelvic region – where many osteoporotic fractures occur in the aging – have a lesser likelihood of fall-related fractures. Bone fractures due to falling are all too common in the elderly and, due to the lack of mobility that followings, often result in serious to terminal health conditions such as pneumonia. According to researchers of this study, even those active male athletes who stopped training later in life would likely reduce their future fracture risk by 50 percent.