Oldies, it’s time to ‘kick’ out diabetes

Turns out, playing football helps increase the bone strength of diabetic patients between 55 to 70 years. Individuals with prediabetes and type-2 diabetes have a higher prevalence of osteopenia. A recent study confirmed that football is effective for osteogenic training and that it has significant positive effects in the legs and clinically important femoral sites.

In the study, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans were used to evaluate the initial bone health of the participants as well as the training-induced effects, along with blood samples to determine plasma markers for bone turnover and bone formation. From these measurements, 73 percent of the participants were diagnosed with femoral osteopenia and 24 percent with femoral osteoporosis prior to the intervention.

After 16 weeks of training, between-group changes in favour of football training were observed for the bone mineral content of the femoral neck (3.2 percent) and femoral shaft (2.5 percent) as well as for bone mineral content (32 g). Plasma osteocalcin and

P1NP were elevated in the football group by 23 percent and 52 percent respectively, with greater changes than in the control group.

“Football is a multipurpose sport that combines strength, endurance, and high-intensity interval training, and this makes it a good tool for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle diseases,” said a lead researcher, Peter Krustrup.

The 55-70-year old women and men participating in the study had poor bone health, poor metabolic fitness, and poor aerobic fitness. Around three-quarters had weak bones. The participants took part in a football training which encompassed a thorough warm-up, ball drills in pairs and games on small pitches. This type of football was observed to be suitable for 70year-old women and men with poor bone health and pre-diabetes.