Regular physical exercises delay forearm bone loss : results of five controlled trials

5 controlled trials with follow-up periods of different length (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years) were conducted to evaluate the influence of a therapeutic exercise regimen on forearm bone density in postmenopausal women. Between 1986 and 1990, all postmenopausal women presenting with predominantly recurrent back pain were randomly assigned to either a control or an exercise group and were followed up for bone density for up to 5 years. Patients who did not show up for follow-up tests, or who started drug treatment for osteoporosis were retrospectively excluded from the analysis. According to the women's compliance, the exercise group was further divided into 2 subgroups: exercise group A (regular exercise), and exercise group B (irregular exercise). There was no significant change in forearm bone density observed in exercise group A regardless of the length of the follow-up period, whereas bone density decreased significantly (p<0.05) in the control group after 1, 2, 3, and 4 years, and in exercise group B after 4 and 5 years of follow-up. We conclude that regular therapeutic exercises may delay the loss offorearm bone mass in postmenopausal women