ABSTRACT

Background: Weight bearing sporting activities have been shown to reflect in osteogenic changes and improved lower extremity muscle strengths in sporting athletes. These effects are being explored as a result of the alarmingly rising consequences of osteoporosis. Meanwhile, previous studies on this subject have been carried out on professional athletes and military personnels who engaged constant daily training and drills but with paucity of information on possible osteogenic changes among undergraduate athletes.

Aims: This study therefore aimed to investigate the effects of weight bearing sporting activities on bone turnover markers and weight bearing index using dynamic technique of blood serum analysis to explore osteogenic changes among university undergraduate athletes.

Methods: Purposive sampling technique was used to select a censored sample size of 42 male participants whose age ranged between 16-34 years. Participants included 28 undergraduate sporting athletes and 14 controls. A questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data, anthropometric characteristics and sporting history of the participants. Blood samples were taken for bone turnover markers analysis and an adapted leg dynamometer was used to measure quadriceps’s muscle strength which is a reflection of weight bearing index. Data obtained was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 24. Level of significance was set at p= 0.05

Results: The results showed that there was a statistical significant difference between the bone turnover markers of osteocalcin and n- terminal telopeptide between athletic and non athletic controls of university undergraduate athletes (t= -2.113, p<0.05, t=-1.735, p<0.05). However, the results showed no statistical difference between the weight bearing index of the university undergraduate athletes and the control group.

Conclusion and Recommendation: Findings from this study indicated that there was a difference between the bone turnover markers of university undergraduate athletes and control group. Hence athletes should be consistent with their training to achieve the benefits of osteogenic stimulation and general bone health.

. Keywords: Weight bearing sporting activities, bone turnover markers, weight bearing index, athletes.