Verterbral endplates, aging and strength training

[mrcosmic]

Hi Mark,

This might be an out of left field piece, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts regarding vertebral endplates and strength training. This study claims that discs height actually increases with age (unfortunately no full text):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9307915

The study suggests that loss of height (ie, stature), is therefore due to not to a gradual delamination of the disc but due to a loss of bone through gradual wear and tear. This probably has implications for stenosis too, in that if you have above average bone density, there's possibility a reduced likelihood of a loss of neural foramina with ageing.

Stu McGill (a spine biomechanist) also claims that increased endplate density gives you a healthier spine:

"... it appears as though stronger and denser trabecular bone reduces vertebral end plate damage and the ensuing delamination process. This characterizes the grand old men of powerlifting who have survived years of lifting with a flexed spine."

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._mcgill_part_i

Not really a question here, but it strikes me that the best way to increase the density of the lumbar spine is through effective weight bearing strength training, for example, the squat, the press, or the deadlift.

[Mark Rippetoe]

It also raises the very common question of applicability to other populations. Is the mechanism tenuously postulated in the paper applicable to the spinal environment of a lifter? Our backs are quite different than those found in the civilian population, and studies like this are seldom relevant to us.

[Kyle Schuant]

This study - and you can download the full text is "Case Study: Bone Mineral Density of Two Elite Senior Female Powerlifters". The case study tells us that both these women had trained for about 30 years, and that,

"The Z and T [age-matched and compared-to-youth bone mineral density] scores of the 54-year-old mark the largest ever reported in the literature for a Caucasian woman of this age"

and

"approximately 85% of women in the USA .over 50 years suffer from either low BMD or osteoporosis. The 2 women in the study, with an average age of 52, had T scores that were not only well above pathological levels but also far above the average 20- to 29-year-old woman at the peak of her BMD."

The bone may still be delaminating, the study didn't address that. But what's left of it is getting denser the longer you lift.

Notably, the study concludes,

"Several previous investigations that reported resistance training having little to no effect on BMD measured changes during <1 year of training and prescribed loading strategies far lower than the 1 repetition maximums typically performed by competitive lifters like the subjects of this study. This may suggest that duration and intensity prescriptions need to be considerably enlarged for skeletal changes like those seen in this investigation to be observed."

Translation from Cautious Study Speak is: PUT ANOTHER PLATE ON THE BAR.

[mrcosmic]

It also raises the very common question of applicability to other populations. Is the mechanism tenuously postulated in the paper applicable to the spinal environment of a lifter? Our backs are quite different than those found in the civilian population, and studies like this are seldom relevant to us.

An excellent critique.

I'm constantly reminded of how important it is that all people train. I really think proper strength training is as close to the fountain of youth that we have.