This 2-year prospective controlled exercise intervention trial in 99 girls at Tanner stage 1, evaluating a school curriculum-based training program on a population-based level, showed that the annual gain in BMC, aBMD, and bone size was greater in the intervention group than in the controls.

No abstract

This non-randomized prospective controlled study evaluates a daily school-based exercise intervention program of 40 min/school day for 1 year in a population-based cohort of 81 boys aged 7-9 years. Controls were 57 age-matched boys assigned to the general school curriculum of 60 min/week. Bone mineral content (BMC; g) and areal bone mineral density (aBMD; g/cm(2)) were measured with dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of the total body, the third lumbar vertebra (L3) and the femoral neck (FN). Bone width for L3 and FN was calculated from the lumbar spine and hip scan. No differences between the groups were found at baseline in age, anthropometrics or bone parameters. The mean annual gain in L3 BMC was 5.9 percentage points higher (P<0.001), L3 aBMD a mean 2.1 percentage points higher (P=0.01) and L3 width a mean 2.3 percentage points higher (P=0.001) in the cases than in the controls. When all individuals were included in one cohort, the total duration of exercise including both school-based and spare-time training correlated with L3 BMC (r=0.26, P=0.003), L3 aBMD (r=0.18, P=0.04) and L3 width (r=0.24, P=0.006). The study suggests that exercise in pre-pubertal boys influences the accrual of bone mineral and bone width and that a 1-year school-based exercise program confers skeletal benefits, at least in the lumbar spine.

Ten girls and 13 boys with mean age 11 years when sustaining a fracture of the olecranon were examined at a mean of 19 years after the injury. Ten fractures were displaced less than 2 mm, three 2-3 mm, eight more than 3 mm and two were multifragmental. The treatment consisted of mobilization in three cases, plaster treatment in nine and open reduction and internal fixation in 11 cases. At follow-up, 21 children had no subjective complaints while two had occasional mild pain. The upper arm circumference was thinner in the former injured extremities than in the uninjured (P<0.05). No other objective deficits were found. None had developed non-union or elbow osteoarthritis. Olecranon fractures during growth have an excellent long-term outcome.