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Muscle to bone relationship in the forearm at midlife

Larger and stronger muscles are positively associated with bone strength in the growing skeleton; however, less is known about the role of muscle properties on bone strength later in life. The primary objective of this study was to examine the relationship between muscle cross sectional area (MCSA), muscle force and rate of torque development (RTD) with bone strength indices (bone strength index (BSI) and strength strain index (SSI)) in the radius of healthy middle-aged adults. All bone and muscle measurements were determined in the non-dominant forearm in a sample of 40 healthy adults (23 men, 17 women: mean age 49.5, SD 2.3 yrs). Peripheral quantitative computer tomography (pQCT) was used to scan the distal and shaft sites of the radius bone in the forearm. MCSA was determined from the forearm shaft scan. Forearm muscle force was measured by hand grip dynamometry and RTD was obtained from isometric wrist flexion from an isokinetic dynamometry protocol. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to identify whether muscle properties (MCSA, grip force, and RTD) independently predicted radius bone strength indices (BSI and SSI), after adjusting for the confounders of sex, height and weight. Steps of the regression models that included sex, height, weight and a muscle property explained between 66% and 71% of variance in distal radius BSI and between 74% and 78% variance of estimated bone strength (SSI) at the shaft site (all steps p<0.001). MCSA explained a significant amount of variance in BSI (R2=0.08; p<0.01) and SSI (R2=0.04; p<0.05) at the radius. Grip force was also a significant predictor of SSI (R2=0.05; p<0.01) but not distal radius BSI (R2=0.03; p=0.07). Conversely, RTD explained a significant amount of variance in bone strength at the distal radius (R2=0.04; p<0.05), but not at the shaft (R2=0.01; p=0.17). These cross sectional findings support the theory that regional muscle size, force, and rate of torque development are related to estimated bone strength in the forearm at midlife. Further research should focus on targeted interventions to help determine which muscle property elicits a greater osteogenic response to optimize bone strength at distal and shaft sites of the radius.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-01082010-153904
Date04 February 2010
CreatorsLorbergs, Amanda Liga
ContributorsBaxter-Jones, Adam, Kontulainen, Saija, Farthing, Jon, Dal Bello-Haas, Vanina
PublisherUniversity of Saskatchewan
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-01082010-153904/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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