Effects of High Intensity Exercise during Early Postmenopause-the Randomized Controlled ACTLIFE-Study

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of a dedicated exercise program on important menopausal risk factors and complaints in osteopenic early-postmenopausal women. Fifty-four women, 1-5 years postmenopause with osteopenia were randomly assigned (a) to a high impact weight bearing/high intensity, high velocity resistance training group (EG: n=27) exercising three times a week or (b) to an attention control group (CG: n=27). Study endpoints were body composition including Bone Mineral Density (BMD) at the Lumbar Spine (LS) as determined by Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA), menopausal symptoms, low back pain, lower extremity strength and power. After 28 weeks of intervention, significant effects were determined for free fat mass (EG: 0.48±0.68 kg vs CG: -0.15±0.88 kg, standardized mean differences (SMD): 0.80, p=.005), total body fat mass (EG: -1.19±1.26 kg vs CG: 0.36±1.59 kg,SMD: 1.08, p=.001), abdominal body fat rate (-1.26±1.99% vs 0.54± 1.53%, SMD: 1.02, p=.001), low back pain frequency (SMD: 0.55, p=.049) and severity (SMS: 0.66, p=.018), lower extremity strength (SMD: 1.46, p<.001) and jumping height (SMD: 0.92, p<.001) in the EG compared with the CG. Menopausal complaints improved in both groups, but changes were only significant in the EG (SMD: 0.33, p=.232). We did not determine significant exercise effects on LS-BMD (SMD: 0.26, p=.351). In conclusion, we demonstrate the general effectiveness of a multipurpose exercise protocol on various risk factors and complaints related to the menopausal transition. Future assessments have to determine the exercise effects on BMD, possibly the most challenging physiologic outcome of this ongoing project.