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THE INFLUENCE OF EVENT DESIGNATION ON BONE HEALTH IN DIVISION I TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES

Abstract

Sloane Montgomery, Shawn Allen, Allen Redinger, Nicholas Spokely, Mia Young, Grace White, Jill Joyce and Breanne Baker

Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK

While previous studies suggest that bone-loading activities benefit musculoskeletal health, many track and field (T&F) athletes suffer from bone injuries. Currently, little is known about bone characteristics between different T&F event designations which may provide key information about the etiology of injury. PURPOSE: To compare bone measures using Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) between 33 T&F athletes: Sprinters (<1500 m; n=11), Distance runners (1500+ m; n=14), or those who compete in Other field events (n=8). METHODS: All athletes provided informed consent prior to completing dietary recall, sleep quality, injury, and bone-specific physical activity (BPAQ) questionnaires and total body, lumbar spine (L1-L4), and dual-hip DXA scans. RESULTS: All groups were equivalent for all lower body hip bone variables (Figure 1), diet and sleep quality, and historical BPAQ scores (all p>0.05). However, upper body bone measures of the arms, ribs, and (L1-L4) were different between the groups even after adjusting for initial differences in body mass (all post hoc p≤0.042, Figure 1) as Sprinters had greater mean arm BMC than Distance runners and those who competed in Other field events had greater (L1-L4) BMC than Distance runners. Additionally, those who ran Distance suffered 3.6x and 4.3x more bone injuries than Sprinters and Other, respectively, which was statistically trending (p=0.058). Other bone mineral density Z-Score (1.5±0.7) was significantly greater than Distance (0.3±1.2), but not Sprinters (0.6±0.2). CONCLUSION: These data suggest despite Sprinters, Distance, and Other T&F athletes being similar for recovery factors such as dietary measures, sleep quality, and historical bone loading activities, unique upper body skeletal differences emerged. Additionally, bone injury incidence wasn’t uniform across T&F event designation but this doesn’t necessarily translate to reduced Z-Scores.

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