Research

Mixed

Continuing physical activity (throwing) into old age reduces age-related cortical bone loss and maintains more bone strength benefits than ceasing activity, though it does not add to bone size benefits.

Maintain loading physical activities into old age to preserve bone strength and reduce structural decay. While you may not increase bone size further, continuing activity helps maintain the strength benefits gained in youth by preventing accelerated bone loss.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Continuing to throw during aging resulted in greater maintenance of the benefits in bone strength engendered by the physical activity during youth. Continued physical activity conferred no additional benefit on bone size during aging... However, continued activity appeared to reduce the accelerated remodeling of the cortex adjacent to the medullary cavity that was observed with the complete cessation of physical activity in former throwers.
Stuart J. Warden et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2014

Why this rating

Same high-quality cross-sectional design as N1.

Source

Physical activity when young provides lifelong benefits to cortical bone size and strength in men

Stuart J. Warden et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2014

DOI 10.1073/pnas.1321605111

cross_sectional · n=197Cited 248×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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