A high-intensity jump-based aquatic exercise program improves bone mineral density and functional fitness in postmenopausal women.

The aim of this study was to verify the effects of a high-intensity jump-based aquatic exercise (HIIAE) program on bone mass and functional fitness in postmenopausal women. We randomly assigned 25 women (65 +/- 7 years) into two groups: Training group (T, n = 15) and Untrained group (Un, n = 10). The T group was submitted to 24 weeks of HIIAE program, where each session lasted for 30 minutes. The following parameters were assessed before and 6 months following the intervention: bone and physical fitness; lumbar spine (LS), total femur (TF), and whole body (WB) bone mineral density (BMD); agility (time up-and-go, TUG); and leg strength (chair stand test, CS). We observed a significant increase (p < 0.01) in LS, (Un: -0.88 +/- 3.55, T: 3.71 +/- 3.68; %), TF (Un: -1.38 +/- 17.76, T: 6.52 +/- 2.71; %), and WB (Un: 2.09 +/- 3.17, T: 3.23 +/- 4.18) BMD in the T group. Regarding functional fitness, the T group showed improvements in both TUG (before: 6.86 +/- 1.24 vs. after: 6.22 +/- 1.13 seconds; p < 0.05) and CS (before: 16 +/- 4 vs. after: 19 +/- 5 repetitions; p > 0.05) tests when compared with the U group's TUG (before: 5 +/- 1, after: 6 +/- 1 seconds; p < 0.05) and CS (before: 20 +/- 2, after: 19 +/- 2 repetitions; p > 0.05) scores. Our data suggest that a high-intensity, jump-based interval aquatic exercise program is able to improve BMD and functional fitness parameters in postmenopausal women.