Background: Jumping exercise is frequently regarded as an optimum strategy for increasing pubertal bone growth, but its role in promoting or preserving adult bone mineral density (BMD) is still undefined.
Objectives: This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the evidence for the influence of jumping exercise on BMD in premenopausal women and to define the effectiveness of high-impact exercise in improving or maintaining female bone health.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, Google Scholar and BIOSIS up to 1 September 2013 for jumping exercise influence on BMD in premenopausal women. The search terms used were 'jumping', 'skipping', 'brief exercise', 'high impact', 'bone density', 'BMD', 'femoral neck', 'lumbar spine', and 'trochanter', and the search was limited to females. Six papers met the search criteria.
Results: Six studies on BMD in the femoral neck (Q = 2.63, p = 0.854, I (2) = 0.0 %), trochanter (Q = 2.10, p = 0.10, I (2) = 0.0 %) and lumbar spine (Q = 1.17, p = 0.979, I (2) = 0.0 %) were highly homogenous in determining skeletal responses to jumping exercise. Jumping exercise significantly increased BMD in the femoral neck {weighted mean difference (WMD) [fixed effect] = 0.017 g/cm(2), 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.014-0.20, p < 0.001} and trochanter (WMD [fixed effect] = 0.021, 95 % CI 0.018-0.024, p < 0.001). However, the lumbar spine seemed to benefit less from such high-impact exercise (p = 0.181). Visual inspection of the plots implicated some degree of asymmetry, indicating a slightly positive treatment effect at the femoral neck and trochanter sites.
Conclusions: Based on meta-analysis of existing studies, the sensitivity of skeletal response to jumping exercise in premenopausal women is significant and site-specific, with significant benefit from high-impact exercise noted, especially at the hip.