It seems like soccer is the ideal sport for women. The sport is low impact and has varied repetitions which help strengthen bones, unlike jogging which has regular, damaging impacts.
Danish researchers recently found that soccer has beneficial effects for women, even women who have never been the sporty type.
25 non-sporty women between 20-47 years were selected for the study. They attended soccer training for 14 weeks. At the end of the study, the bone mineral density of their tibia (shin) was measured and had increased on average between 2.1% and 2.6%.
25 other women took part in the study and jogged and they did not have the same bone mineral density improvement.
Scientists had already noticed that soccer players have higher bone mineral density than the average person. They wanted to find out if non-athletes would see the same effects.
Project leader Peter Krustrup explains, "During soccer training and games, the players perform many sprints, turns, kicks and tackles. This combination of actions help achieve a variable bone impact that appears to provide a better stimulus to bone mineralisation than running."
Besides the bone mineral density, study participants saw their muscle strength increase by 3%. Joggers had no significant increase in this area.