The effect of athletic activity on the bone mass in human diaphyseal bone.

Both humeri of seven professional tennis players and seven controls were examined with x-ray spectrophotometry, and computed tomography. Both the bone mineral content and the cortical cross-sectional area were found to be larger in the dominant arm of the tennis players than in their non-dominant arm, and in comparison to both arms of the controls. The increase in cortical cross-sectional area was a result of an increased outer diameter of the diaphysis.