Samenvatting

Postmenopausal bone loss leads to millions of fractures annually. Hormonal replacement therapy is prescribed to offset bone loss, but this treatment includes health risks. Another treatment tool, which stimulates bone formation and following reduces fracture risk is strength training. Therefore the aim of this literature review was to figure out if strength training was superior to hormone replacement therapy to increase the bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. After the search procedure four randomized controlled trials were included. Measurements were taken on the femur, spine and hip. There were indicative findings that strength training was superior to hormone replacement therapy to increase the bone mineral density at the greater trochanter in postmenopausal women. No evidence was found that strength training was superior to hormonal replacement therapy to increase the bone mineral density at the lumbar spine, hip or other sides on the femur.