Does Swimming Exercise Impair Bone Health? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Comparing the Evidence in Humans and Rodent Models

The effect of swimming on bone health remains unclear, namely due to discrepant findings between studies in humans and animal models.

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to identify the available evidence on the effects of swimming on bone mass, geometry and microarchitecture at the lumbar spine, femur and tibia in both humans and rodent animal models.

The study followed PRISMA guidelines and was registered at PROSPERO (CRD4202236347 and CRD42022363714 for human and animal studies). Two different systematic literature searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science, retrieving 36 and 16 reports for humans and animal models, respectively.

In humans, areal bone mineral density (aBMD) was similar between swimmers and non-athletic controls at the lumbar spine, hip and femoral neck. Swimmers' tibia diaphysis showed a higher cross-sectional area but lower cortical thickness. Inconsistent findings at the femoral neck cortical thickness were found. Due to the small number of studies, trabecular microarchitecture in human swimmers was not assessed. In rodent models, aBMD was found to be lower at the tibia, but similar at the femur. Inconsistent findings in femur diaphysis cross-sectional area were observed. No differences in femur and tibia trabecular microarchitecture were found.

Swimming seems to affect bone health differently according to anatomical region. Studies in both humans and rodent models suggest that tibia cortical bone is negatively affected by swimming. There was no evidence of a negative effect of swimming on other bone regions, both in humans and animal models.