Author(s): CHOLP, J., STRELECKÝ, M., CUPKA, M., BUZGÓ, G., ORESKÁ, L., CERNÁCKOVÁ, A., HAMAR, D., KERN, H., PAYER J., KILLINGER, Z., SEDLIAK, M., Institution: FACULTY OF SPORTS AND EDUCATION OF COMENIUS UNIVERSITY BRATISLAVA, Country: SLOVAKIA, Abstract-ID: 1721

INTRODUCTION:
The endurance running is nowadays the subject of interest not only in sport science and competitive sport, but also the general population, as it is one of the most natural movements of human. However, the effect of endurance running activity on changes in the body composition and bone mineral density in performance endurance runners are still not sufficiently examined. The aim of the study was to determine the differences in body composition (BC) and bone mineral density (BMD) variables between young performance runners and the non-sporting general population. From our results, we wanted to find out the extent of the impact of endurance training in runners on their body composition and bone density parameters and thus show the important issues related to performance and elite sports.
METHODS:
The monitored selection of young performance runners (YPR) consisted of 11 subjects (age 26.5 ± 2.7 yrs; body mass index (BMI) 22,0 ± 1,1 kg.m-2 ) and the monitored group of non-sporting population (NSP) consisted of 8 probands (age 26.8 ± 2.5 yrs; body mass index (BMI) 28,7 ± 5,8 kg.m-2 ) of slovak nationality. Both groups were males. YPR were defined by a training volume of < 240 minutes of running activity per week, age (20-30 years old) and by their personal records on 10 km run in endurance running competitions. NSP were defined by their age (20-30 years old) and history of no regular physical activity or practice < 30 minutes per week in the last 5 years. A dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used where all the necessary anthropometric BC and BMD variables were estimated. To evaluate the differences in the monitored parameters between groups we used the Mann - Whitney U test and ES (Cohen r). All data are expressed as means ± SD.


RESULTS:
The endurance running group had a significantly lower value of total body weight (73,3 ± 4,4 kg vs 94,7 ± 21,1 kg, p = 0.017; ES = 0.549), total fat mass (18,4 ± 1,5 % vs 28,3 ± 6,7 %, p = 0.002; ES = 0.701), android fat mass (19,6 ± 1,9 % vs 33,1 ± 9,4 %, p = 0.002; ES = 0.720), gynoid fat mass (21,1 ± 2,6 % vs 30,5 ± 6,4 % , p = 0.005; ES = 0.644), the ratio of android to gynoid fat mass (0,9 ± 0,1 vs 1,1 ± 0,2, p = 0.047; ES = 0.455) and a significantly higher value of lean mass (77,5 ± 1,5 % vs 68,7 ± 6,3 %, p = 0.007; ES = 0.616), total BMC (4,1 ± 0,2 % vs 3,0 ± 0,4 %, p = 0.000; ES = 0.833). Young runners had significantly higher values only in the Z-score of the total BMD (0,75 ± 0,40 SD vs - 0,21 ± 0,61 SD, p = 0.001; ES = 0.749). The Z-scores of the proximal femur and lumbar spine were not significantly different between the groups.
CONCLUSION:
Endurance running activity has a significant effect on improving body composition parameters and overall bone mineral density in the group of young performance runners, however, no specific significant effect on increasing bone mineral density in the proximal femur and lumbar vertebrae was found, even though it is a type of activity with impact forces on these body parts.