Women's Running: Health Q&A

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Is running good for my bones?

Yes. In fact, running is the best exercise for adolescent girls hoping to build maximal bone-mineral density (BMD), according to a study by Australian researchers. Other studies have shown that the more BMD a woman can create, the better her chance of avoiding osteoporosis.

The Australian team compared the BMD of four groups of teenage athletes who had been training for six to seven years – runners, cyclists, swimmers and triathletes. The runners had greater overall BMD than the swimmers, and compared with the cyclists, runners had greater leg BMD.

Picture credit: Peter Griffith/Getty Images

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