Young athletes who participate in multidirectional sports, instead of specializing in a unidirectional sport such as running, can build stronger bones and reduce the risk for bone injuries as adults, according to a new study.
The researchers examined Division I and II female cross-country runners, who often experience bone stress injuries such as stress fractures.
The study found that athletes who had a history of running and participating in sports that require movement in many directions—such as basketball or soccer—had better bone structure and strength than those who had a history of solely running, swimming, or cycling.
The findings, published in August in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, support recommendations that athletes delay specialization in running and that they instead play multidirectional sports when younger to build a more robust skeleton and potentially prevent bone stress injuries….