Exercise does more than just distract children from watching television. According to studies, mechanical loading -- running or jumping, as opposed to swimming or biking -- may be the best way to strengthen kids' bones.

The benefits of such exercises are most prominent during skeletal growth and development during childhood and adolescent years.

The reason running and jumping improve bone mass is due to the cellular mechanosensors found within new bone growth, which provide direction to where it is needed most. The only flaw here is that although cellular mechanosensors are efficient, the biological process involved in bone mechanotransduction remains a mystery to scientists.

One exercise not recommended for children is weight lifting, in that it overloads growing joints and can actually stunt longitudinal bone growth, limb growth and height.

Another concept concerning bone mass that researchers have been attempting to gain ground in is discovering how desensitization of bone cells occurs. They do understand, however, that desensitization plays an important role regarding the mechanosensing apparatus.

One scientist found that in order to create an exercise program to build bone strength meant to incorporate desensitization, age-related effects of exercise and include an exercise "osteogenic index" or OI.

In a review on this theory researchers observed that:

• Short, intensive exercise bouts build bone mass most effectively

• OI works best by adding additional exercises per week instead of lengthening the duration of sessions

• It is better to shorten each workout session than to reduce the number of sessions

• When daily exercises are divided into two sessions separated by eight hours, the potential for bone production through exercise is increased

Science Daily October 7, 2004

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Studies like this are yet another example of how important it is for your kids to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Since peak bone mass during childhood and adolescent years is one of the known major contributing factors to osteoperosis, it makes building strong and healthy bones that much more critical during early years of development. While I don't recommend many supplements, vitamin D is one supplement I do urge you to consider giving your children, as it essential to healthy bone mass development. Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins you can optimize, largely because it is not a vitamin. It is also the "only" vitamin that even traditional experts advise breast fed babies to be on in the winter. That is because it is not transferred in breast milk at all. The grand design was to get it from sun exposure to the skin, but that just doesn't happen for most of us in the winter. And with the winter months quickly approaching, you can be virtually assured that your child is not getting enough vitamin D from the sun right now, especially if you live in the U.S. To solve this problem is to give your child cod liver oil, as it has the type of vitamin D that can safely increase the vitamin D level to one that will help build strong bones in your child's body. It is important to remember that the quality of the cod liver oil is very important. A high quality oil will be purified of mercury and other toxins. I recommend Carlson's brand cod liver oil, which I have found to be of superior quality. If you cannot find it at your local health food store, you can purchase Carlson's cod liver oil conveniently in our online store. Related Articles: Baby’s Bone Health is Related to Milk Mom Drank While Pregnant Vitamin D: Myth Vs. Reality Want Your Kids to Have Healthy Bones? Give Them Cod Liver Oil in the Winter Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency Winter is Approaching and Your Vitamin D is Falling