TY - JOUR T1 - Optimising bone health in the young male athlete JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 148 LP - 149 DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2016-097000 VL - 51 IS - 3 AU - Adam S Tenforde AU - Aurelia Nattiv AU - Kathryn Ackerman AU - Michelle T Barrack AU - Michael Fredericson Y1 - 2017/02/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/51/3/148.abstract N2 - Sports participation provides many health benefits to young athletes of both sexes. However, a subset of male athletes may suffer from unrecognised low bone density and impaired skeletal health, predisposing them to an increased risk of fracture. The effects of delayed diagnosis and inappropriate treatment of low bone density among male athletes may have severe consequences in future longevity in sport as well as long-term bone health. It has been well described that low energy availability alters the neuroendocrine axis, resulting in menstrual dysfunction, low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased risk for bone stress injury (BSI) in female athletes.1 ,2 However, male athletes may also experience an analogous process that parallels the female athlete triad (Triad).3 As childhood and adolescence represent a critical time for accruing peak bone mass, identifying modifiable risk factors for impaired skeletal health is important to ensure the long-term health in athletes of both sexes.Similar to female athletes,4 there appear to be cumulative risk factors for low BMD (Z-scores <−1.0) in the young male athlete. A prior investigation in 42 male runners identified BMI ≤17.5 kg/m2 and a belief that being thinner leads to faster running performances as risk factors for having lower BMD.5 Risk factors in the young male athlete obtained from anthropometric measures and self-report questionnaires include low body weight (<85% expected weight), stress fracture history, average … ER -