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Ed Yeates ReportingIf you are in your late teens or early twenties you need to pay attention to this next story. You may have a fairly serious health condition you don't even know about. It has to do with your bones.
Specialized equipment is designed for workouts inside Majestic Elementary School in West Jordan. But why there - with kids at a young age?
They look strong - but what about their bones? At Ft. Benning, young recruits prepare for a new Army where quick moves, jumping, and skeletal maneuvers take precedent now over two mile runs.
Sgt. Major Todd Bennett, Utah Recruiting Retention Operations: "It's a show stopper for these kids. They're into training for four or five weeks. And in the rigors of training, they can't get behind. And if they get a stress fracture they're off their feet for quite a while."
And those stress fractures are showing up more than ever before. Sgt. Major Todd Bennett sees it in young Utah soldiers. Lt. General Dennis Cavin sees it across the country.
Cavin says, "today's recruits are more prone to injury than those a decade ago, largely because bone density of the average new soldier has decreased 15 percent."
Sgt. Major Todd Bennett: “ They’re probably better soldiers and smarter soldiers today. But I don’t think they are as physically strong and agile as the soldiers back in the 70’s.”
The Army has modified training, not only to build new soldiers for a different time, but to recondition their bones, softened - so to speak - by sedentary lifestyles. While we singled out new recruits, the pattern threatens a whole new generation of young people.
Dr. Lori Moyer-Mileur, University of Utah Bone Density Project: "If you're not active, you're muscles become less strong. Your bones are not being told to be strong and so you lose mineral from the bone."
At the University of Utah and Primary Children's Hospital, Dr. Lori Moyer-Mileur did her own study with teenage girls. Like the Army, her research showed once low density bones were reconditioned through changes in diet and activity, they got significantly stronger.
It involves a pattern the CDC and others worry about. By ten years of age, physical activity drops dramatically, while the consumption of soda pop and fattening snacks goes up.
Dr. Lori Moyer-Mileur: "They seem to be spending a lot of time playing video games, using play stations, being on the computer."
But now there’s the pilot project at Majestic Elementary School. Kids there are stimulating and strengthening their skeletons, their muscles, and more.
Miranda Moore, 5th Grader: “Well, my bones, they feel stronger and they won’t break as easily.”
Michael Coeto, 5th Grader: “I’m getting stronger. I feel better.”
Cora JcKowski, Principal, Majestic Elementary School: "It's all over the country, going all over the country now and it's to the advantage of every student physically, mentally and socially."
The equipment stimulates weight bearing and brain to body coordination. Researchers believe if there is a remedy, it must begin at a young age, not later - and researchers are gathering data to prove it.
While calcium in the diet is important, activity plays a bigger role. Any weight-bearing activity where you just get up and move around increases bone density. We just need to do more of it.
