Bone Response to Exercise in Women on Antiresorptive Medications

Summary

Performing resistance training and impact exercise at a moderate to high intensity may help prevent bone loss. However, medications used to treat bone diseases such as osteoporosis reduce the activity of bone cells. The investigators are unsure whether bone cells will still respond to exercise in people on osteoporosis medications. Therefore, investigators have designed a study to compare bone response to moderate-high intensity exercise that involves resistance training and impact exercise versus posture and low intensity balance exercises. Women taking osteoporosis medication will be equally and randomly assigned to one of the exercise groups. There will be 23 participants per group and both exercise programs will be performed over a span of 6 months, twice weekly, for approximately 30-45 minutes per session. Investigators will measure sclerostin, a bone-related protein found in the blood, to see if there are any changes after 3 months of training. Higher levels of sclerostin may result in greater bone breakdown. It is expected that the moderate-high intensity exercise program will decrease sclerostin levels more than low intensity training. Further, changes in sclerostin levels during the 6-month exercise intervention will be explored. The effects of the exercise program on other bone markers in the blood, physical ability, and quality of life will be reported. The willingness of the participants to perform the exercise program and the safety of the exercises provided will also be assessed.

Conditions

• Osteoporosis
• Bone Loss

Interventions

OTHER

Progressive Resistance and Impact Exercise

Full body resistance and impact exercises will be performed twice a week for 30-45 minutes over a 6 month period. There will be at least one day of rest between scheduled exercise sessions. Participants will be individually prescribed variations of push, pull, squat, lift and carry movements targeting major muscle groups that they can safely complete, and accessory exercises to help develop movement patterns. Exercises will challenge both the upper and lower body using functional movement patterns. Each muscle group will be trained twice a week. During the first month, participants will focus on completing exercises with good form at a low intensity. Once form is mastered, exercises will be progressed (by increasing load, or challenge of the movement) to a moderate to high exercise intensity (80-85% 1RM) so that the participant can complete a maximum of 8 (\~80% 1RM) or 6 (\~85% 1RM) repetitions with 1-2 repetitions in reserve for 3 sets at a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of 8-9.

OTHER

Static Balance and Postural Exercise

Participants in the attention control group will perform static posture and balance exercises (e.g., low intensity yoga poses) and will be given the same attention as the participants in the intervention group. The small group exercises will be performed twice a week, 30-45 minutes per session, over 6 months, with at least one day of rest between each session. The exercise program will be supervised by a certified personal trainer and yoga instructor who is BoneFit trained.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Waterloo

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Lora M Giangregorio, PhD · University of Waterloo, Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-01-02

Primary Completion

2020-03-16

Completion

2020-03-16

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations