The health of Canadian youth is cause for great concern. Despite the well-known benefits of physical activity, the number of Canadian youth who are inactive remains high. Physical activity levels decline significantly from childhood to adolescence.  Almost 90% of youth failing to reach recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. This may seriously impact bone health as evidence strongly suggests that regular physical activity during childhood and adolescence may prevent osteoporosis and fragility fractures later in life. Thus, we need effective strategies that can improve adolescents’ physical activity levels, and in turn positively impact bone health. In this study, we aim to determine how physical activity and inactivity are related to adolescent's bone health.

To address our aim, the research project "Health Promoting Secondary Schools–Bone Catalyst (HPSS-BC)" recruits hundreds of grade 10 students that are part of a larger school-based study. Researchers use advanced medical imaging to measure bone strength as well as fat and muscle mass; and examine associations between these outcomes and measures of physical activity obtained with questionnaires and activity-monitoring devices (accelerometers). The project is novel because few studies have used advanced medical imaging to study adolescents’ bone strength and the influence of physical activity. The research team has a strong history of collaborating with key stakeholders (parents, teachers, students) to develop key messages and to move knowledge into programs, practice and policy that benefit children and adolescents’ health.

HPSS-BC is featured on the third edition of UBC Partners in Innovation (http://governmentrelations.ubc.ca/files/2012/01/HealthJan2012.pdf). Partners in Innovation highlights how UBC – through its research, community engagement and teaching – is working with and supporting BC’s government initiatives. Each edition identifies existing collaborations and new areas of research and discovery that may be of use to Ministers and senior public servants within the ministry.

Project Highlight - From September 15th to November 3, the CHHM’s Mobile Lab was on the road visiting ten secondary schools located on Vancouver Island, in the Lower Mainland, and in Armstrong. The Mobile Lab, which houses two state-of-the-art bone imaging devices, measured the bone health of 200 grade 10 students participating in the Health Promoting Secondary Schools study funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, in collaboration with the University of Victoria. Half of the participating schools will receive a program designed to encourage student participation in physical activity by offering a choice-based program through their physical education and planning curriculums, the remaining schools will continue to participate in their regular grade 10 curriculum. The same 200 students will be measured again in the spring to determine whether or not the choice-based program was effective in improving their levels of physical activity and bone health. The Mobile lab is funded by the Province of British Columbia, the federal government, Vancouver Coastal Health, and UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.