Run Run Away

Question:

FIND OUT HOW HEALTHY YOUR BONES ARE…and how susceptible you may be to the dreaded stress fracture.     As many of you may be aware, female runners may lose their periods or have irregular menstrual cycles. Sadly, this is NOT a benign problem. Your skeleton growsuntil you are 28-30 years old; after that, you start losing a little bone each year. Therefore, you need to build a strong skeleton when you are young. Running-related irregularity will compromise bone health. Weak bones can lead to stress fractures and early osteoporosis. B-FIT is a study about improving skeletal strength in young, competitive runners.  Eligible candidates are between the ages of 18 and 25 and have not been taking oral contraceptives during the previous 6 months.     As a 10,000m runner (34:21) for the Nike Farm Team and graduate of Stanford’s track and field program, I have a personal interest in learning how these problems can be prevented. Now we just need more participants in order to release our findings (which will be used to make recommendations to collegiate and post-collegiate programs).     You can check out our web-site at http://www.stanford.edu/~kcobb/bfit/. We are looking for motivated volunteers who would be willing to travel to Stanford, UCLA, or New York three times over two years to have bone measurements taken (travel expenses are paid by the study up to $150). If you would like to participate in the study or have questions, please call me (toll-free) at 1-877-RUN-BFIT (786-2348) or e-mail me at Your participation will help future women athletes everywhere! Join B-FIT. -Heather Tanner, M.S. Epidemiology The B-FIT Office (650) 498-6784 1 (877) RUN-BFIT Stanford University School of Medicine

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