Aerobic Exercise and Whole-Body Vibration in Offsetting Bone Loss in Older Adults

Table 1

Snap-shot of the relevant studies* investigating the relationship of aerobic exercise and BMD of various skeletal sites.

Authors (reference)	Design/subjects	Bone measurements (BMD/BMC)	Results
Brook-Wavell et al. 1997 [20]	78 sedentary women were assigned to either brisk walking (𝑛=38) for 1 year or controls (𝑛=40)	DXA (Lunar DPX-L) (GE Medical Systems, Madison, WI) and McCue Ultrasonics (Winchester, UK)	Regular brisk walking for 1 year increased BMD significantly at calcaneus and almost significantly at the lumbar spine in postmenopausal women compared to controls
Chien et al. 2000 [21]	43 postmenopausal Chinese women were assigned to either treadmill walking or stepping exercise (𝑛=23) for 6-month and nonexercise controls (𝑛=21) for 2 years	DXA (XR-26 Mark II machine, Norland Corp., WI)	Femoral neck BMD was significantly increased in postmenopausal women on treadmill compared to controls
Ebrahim et al. 1997 [22]	98 postmenopausal women were randomly allocated to brisk walking (𝑛=49) or placebo group (𝑛=48)	DXA (Lunar DPX) (GE Medical Systems, Madison, WI)	Brisk walking for 2 years had less femoral neck BMD loss than placebo groups
Hatori et al. 1993 [8]	33 postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to 12 controls (𝑛=12), moderate intensity walking (𝑛=9), and high-intensity walking group (𝑛=12) for 7 months	DXA (QDR-1000) (Hologic Inc., Bedford, MA)	7-month high-intensity walking attenuated bone loss at the lumbar spine in postmenopausal women
Ilich-Ernst et al. 2002 [23]	77 older Caucasian women were assessed for past physical activity and past and present walking	DXA (Lunar DPX-MD) (GE Medical Systems, Madison, WI)	Hip bone mass increased in subjects walking at a brisk or fast pace
Ilich and Brownbill 2008 [24]	97 postmenopausal women were compared regarding the walking pace (slow, fast, or brisk)	DXA (Lunar DPX-MD) (GE Medical Systems, Madison, WI)	A significantly higher femoral neck BMD/BMC at a brisk walking pace than a slow walking pace
Iwamoto et al. 2002 [25]	35 postmenopausal women were assigned to either brisk walking and gymnastic training (𝑛=15) or controls (𝑛=20) for 1 years	DXA (XR-26 or XR-36) (Norland, Fort Atkinson, WI)	One year of brisk walking combined with gymnastic training significantly increased the spine BMD
Kirk et al. 1989 [26]	Premenopausal runners (𝑛=10) and postmenopausal women (𝑛=9) runners and matched premenopausal sedentary controls (𝑛=10) and postmenopausal sedentary controls (𝑛=9)	QCT	Postmenopausal runners tended to have lower lumbar spine BMD than premenopausal women runners and age-matched controls
Krall and Dawson-Hughes 1994 [27]	237 healthy Caucasian women were assessed by questionnaire of current and historical participation in outdoor walking	DXA (Lunar DPX) (Lunar Corp., Madison, WI)	Women who walked more than 7.5 miles/week had higher whole body, leg, and trunk BMD than those who walked less than 1 mile/week
Lord et al. 1996 [28]	136 women were assigned to either AEX with strength training (𝑛=66) or control group (𝑛=70) for 42 weeks	DXA (Lunar DPX) (Lunar Corp., Madison, WI)	There was no difference in BMD at different sites
Lane et al. 1998 [29]	Runners (𝑛=28) and nonrunner controls (𝑛=27) were followed for 9 years	QCT	Runners lost less bone in the spine than controls
Martin and Notelovitz 1993 [30]	55 postmenopausal women were assigned to control (𝑛=19), 30-minute AEX (𝑛=20), or 45-minute AEX (𝑛=16) for 12 months	DXA	Moderate AEX did not improve lumbar or forearm BMD
Michel et al. 1992 [31]	Elder runners (𝑛=14) and matched controls (𝑛=14) were followed for 5 years	QCT (Quantitative GE 9800 CT)	Running reduced age-related bone loss both in women and men over 50 years of age
Pang et al. 2005 [32]	63 older people with chronic strokes were randomly assigned to exercise (𝑛=32) with fitness and mobility exercise program and control (𝑛=31) with a seated upper extremity program	DXA (QDR 4500) (Hologic Inc., Waltham, MA)	Exercise group maintained the femoral neck BMD, while a significant reduction in BMD was observed in controls
Welsh and Rutherford 1996 [33]	30 men and women were assigned to either high-impact AEX (𝑛=15) for 1-year or nonexercise controls (𝑛=15)	DXA (Lunar DPX-L) (Lunar Corp., Madison, WI)	Exerciser had significantly increased femoral neck BMD after 1-year training, while there were no observed changes in controls
Wiswell et al. 2002 [34]	54-old-male runners were intervened longitudinally over a 5- to 7-year period	DXA (QDR 1500) (Hologic, Inc., Bedford, MA)	Hip and spine BMD were maintained by a 4- to 5-year running period compared to their baseline measurement

DXA = dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, QCT = quantitative computed tomography.
*Reference no. [9] did not show a positive effect on bone and although it is discussed in the text, it is not presented in the table.