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CHICAGO - Girls who do regular jumping exercises at around the age of 10 could delay the onset of osteoporosis, which causes brittle bones, according to a new study.
A group of girls did jumping jacks, jumped off platforms, jumped forward, and did side-to-side jumps at six stations on a track, running or skipping in between, with the height and impact of the jumps increasing over the course of the two-year study.
Those who did the exercise course three times a week during their school years had nearly a 5 percent better gain in bone minerals, the study found.
"If maintained, this advantage in bone-mineral accrual represents the equivalent of three to five years of postmenopausal bone loss," said researchers at British Columbia Children's Hospital and the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Osteoporosis is a loss of bone mass that often accompanies aging. It causes bones to become brittle and more easily broken, and tends to affect women more than men.
Reuters
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