The Effects of Tennis Training on the Bone Mineral Density of Young Adults

Konstantinos Koronas1, Vassilios Koronas1, Alexandros Mavvidis2, Konstantinos Mantis2, Ioannis Athanailidis2

¹Division of Physical Activity and Recreation, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Aris- totle University ofThessaloniki, Hellas

2Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas

Abstract

The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of tennis training on the bone mineral density of the lumber of the vertebral column and the femoral neck in both males and females who are still at the stage where the peak bone mineral density has not yet been reached. Six male and 14 female individuals with an average age of 21 years old (SD=0.89,1.11 respectively). The mean body mass index for the males was 23.22 (SD=1.17 and for the females was 21.01 (SD=2.37 The methodology used for the measurement of bone density was that of D.X.A (Dual X-ray - Absorptiometry) measuring the bone density of the lumber of the vertebral column (L1 – L4) and the femoral neck. Changes in the above variables before and after the intervention were evaluated with non- parametric tests, separately for the whole study sample as well as individually for each sex. These variables were different in relation to the sexes. More specifically, females showed substantial improvement in the measurements of both body parts studied (each time: p<.01), whereas the males showed improvement only in the bone mineral density of the lumber of the vertebral column ( p<.05). Despite the fact that no increase was observed in the bone mineral density for males in either region, the analysis of the results shows that tennis is able to produce im- provement in the bone mineral density. In the discussion, explanations are given on the differences that tennis training presents on the effect of the bone mineral density for both sexes.

Key words: Tennis, bone mineral density, vertebral column, femoral neck