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research, Bryce Winklepleck for his assistance in the data collection, Brett Williams for his assistance in the statistical analysis and Ashley Hervey for her assistance in the data collection, and most importantly her friendship and support as we went through this process together. I would also like to thank the participants of this study for their willing participation in the research. A special thanks to my husband, family and friends for their devoted faith and support in my education and life"s journey. v ABSTRACT Studies have demonstrated the effect of dominance on bone mineral density (BMD) of both weight bearing and non-weight bearing limbs and the effect of physical activity and specific sports, such as tennis, gymnastics, and volleyball on bmd of the predominantly used limb(s) versus non-used limb(s). Like tennis and volleyball, the Wichita State University (WSU) bowling team performs a high volume of repetitive use of their bowling arm on a regular basis. This is the first study to investigate the effect of ten-pin bowling at an elite collegiate level on BMD of the bowling arm compared to the non-bowling arm. Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry Unit (Hologic QDR 4500W Elite) was used to assess BMD of bilateral arms (whole body scan) and bilateral forearms (forearm scan) of 25 (N=13 males, N=12 females) collegiate bowlers (20.72 ± 1.46 yrs). In this study, the forearm scans showed significantly greater (p<0.05) BMD in the bowling arm (0.635 ± .05 g•cm-2) compared to the non-bowling arm (0.618 ± .06 g•cm-2) of both male and female bowlers. However, when separated by gender, the female bowling arm showed a significantly greater difference between arms (4.1 ± 3.1% difference, p<0.05) and compared to the males (1.5 ± 2.6% difference, p<0.05). Whole body scans of the left and right arms were also assessed and similar results were observed in the bowling arm compared to the non-bowling arms of males (3.81 ± 5.19%, p<0.05) and females (4.15 ± 2.54%, p<0.05). In conclusion, the female elite level collegiate ten-pin bowlers demonstrate an increased BMD in the bowling forearm when compared to the non-bowling forearm. vi

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