How do different sporting activities affect bone patella volume? A descriptive pilot study

The aim of this study was to compare the patella bone volume of sedentary men with that of elite male sportspeople, including judoka, cyclists, weightlifters, and taekwondo athletes who were members of Turkish National Professional Teams. All subjects had no history or clinical signs of an orthopaedic disorder such as osteoarthritis or acromegaly. The right and left knees of all groups were placed side by side in a supine position and were scanned by high resolution imaging with multidetector computed tomography. The differences between the volume of right and left patellae of sedentary men, judoka, cyclists, weightlifters, and taekwondo athletes were statistically significant. The average left patella of a professional cyclist and the average right patella volume of a sedentary man were maximum and minimum, respectively. The results demonstrated that the patella volume of cyclists was significantly larger. According to the literature, patella bone volume was associated with a reduced rate of annual patella cartilage volume loss, so cycling early in life may prevent patella cartilage loss in the future.