Physical activity influence on woman bone mass

Resumen

This study aims to analyze the influence of physical activity performed in childhood, in adolescence, and at the time of the study on woman bone density. Two hundred volunteer women participated in the study by filling a standard questionnaire and having a bone densitometry done. The data were analyzed by frequencies, Student t test, and ?2 , at 0,05 level of significance and showed that: a) the majority of women (173) practiced some kind of physical activity in the past and 166 have been practicing at the time of the study; b) the physical activity characteristics can be consider within the patterns found in the literature; c) bone loss among women who practiced physical activities in the childhood and adolescence was smaller than the ones had not practiced (p<0,03); there was no significant difference among those who practiced and did not practice at the time of the study (p<0,73); d) there was a bone density association with the variables: daily coffee ingestion (p<0,05); climacteric phase (p<0,001); current use of bone mass harmful medicines (p<0,05) and presence of bone mass harmful illness (p<0,01). It was possible to conclude that few variables interfered in women bone loss and also that physical activities performed in the past had more influence on woman bone density than practice at the time of the study.