It is well established that mechanical load affects bone
cells. The strain characteristics that determine skeletal
responses include strain magnitude [13], strain frequency
[14] and strain rate [15]. There appears to be an inverse
relationship between strain magnitude and frequency for
inducing osteogenic effects. Low-magnitude mechanical
load needs to be applied at high frequency in order to
have an effect equivalent to high-magnitude mechanical
load at lower frequency [16]. Moreover, the duration and
cycle number of the loading are other factors related to
the increase in osteoblast proliferation [17,18]. We showed
in the present study that body height was inversely related
to the increased in P1NP after Thai traditional massage. It
is likely that this is partly because of tall postmenopausal
women received less repetitive cyclic numbers of massage
per body surface area than shorter women during the
same period. In line with our previous study, we demonstrated
in the present study that external periodic mechanical
loading applied through Thai traditional massage is
likely to have an anabolic effect on bone; this suggests that
Thai traditional massage could be another option for
enhancing bone health through mechanical loading.