semmelweis university - Faculty of Physical Education and Sport ...

Bíborka Kocs
Semmelweis University, Faculty of P. E. and Sport Sciences (TF), Budapest, Hungary
Supervisor: Dr. Gábor Szőts, assistant professor
Consultant: Dr. Mihály Kocs, physician
A Study on Bone Structure of Pre-Pubertal Children
Introduction: In our present study we investigated one of the main health problems of the
modern age: the musculo-skeletal anomalies during pre-puberty. The consequencies of it
could appear later as locomotor system disorders in adolescence and in adulthood. The main
causes of it could be: inadequate nutrition, non-adequate physical activity, intensive growth.
Hypothesis: 1. We supposed that the „explosive‖ growth had marked influence on the
development of the musculo-skeletal disorders. Even in case of fast growth, the length and the
diameter of the bones are growing paralel, but the development of the cortical region could
delay. It could be resulted in decreased bone stability and there could also be a compensatory
malconstruction of the trabecular region.
2. When fast growth is constant, the reconstraction of the trabeculas might not be enough.
Firstly, small cavities could be seen in the trabecular structure, then they may become larger
and larger. Therefore, the stability of the bones may decrease, so they could be deformed and
those deformities could result in developing musculo-skeletal disorders, as well.
Subjects and examination methods: Our sample embraced 113 pre-pubertal girls and boys
aged between 9 and 12 years. We investigated the effect of the speed of growth on the
structure and mineralisation of the bones. The distal radius on the non-dominant side was
measured by XCT 2000 pQCT. The classification of children is demonstrated in percentage
distribution values in the subgroups. Trabecular bone structure was categorised as follows:
- Normal - homogeneous structure;
- Porous – holes, smaller than 5 mm 2 areas;
- Cavernous – holes, bigger than 5 mm 2 areas;
The intensity of the growth was between 3 to18 cm per (last) year. On that base, children were
devided into 3 subgroups:
- average - between 5-10 cm/year;
- low - less than 5 cm/year;
- high - more, than 10 cm/year.
Results: By our results we can state that: off the boys, 40% of them belonged to the normal
bone catergory, though only 20% of the girls (all of them were athletes) was included.
The rates of the boys and girls in the porous subgroup were 35.4 and 32.4%, respectively.
The cavernous subgroup embraced 24.6 % of the boys, while in girls its value was almost
doubled with 47%.
Conclusion: In both boys and girls higher rate of children tend to belong to the porous or
cavernous groups, namely 60 and 80 %, respectively. In girls, the highest representation of the
subgroups was found in the cavernous, the most problematic group. In summary, the vast
majority of the whole sample might have higher risk of juvenile osteoporosis, or compressed
fractures and incongruency in joints.
We think that the most important outcome of our study is that because of the cavity formation
in the bone structure could weaken the skeletal system, we must take into consideration the
higher risk of exposure to deformity in pre-pubertal and pubertal children. As consequences
of the bony deformities, asymmetries and muscle functional deviations could also be occured.
We need to go on investigating bony development for better understanding through the
growth process.
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