Although Turk and coworkers found that only 5 percent of adult women with cerebral palsy were reported to have osteoporosis, three other studies found high levels of osteopenia among children with cerebral palsy. In the first study, Henderson et al. reported levels of bone mineral density on 139 children (mean age = 9+3.6 years, 3 to 15 years) with spastic cerebral palsy. Bone mineral density was measured with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and compared to 95 age-matched subjects without disabilities. The investigators found that although bone mineral density varied greatly among subjects, on average the children with cerebral palsy were one standard deviation below the age-matched group without disabilities.

In the second study, Shaw et al. measured the bone mineral density in the lumbar spine of 9 children who were non-ambulatory with cerebral palsy, ages 2 to 13 years. Subjects were compared to an age and sex-matched control group of children without disabilities. All of the children with cerebral palsy exhibited a severe reduction in bone mineral density.

In the third study, Lin and Henderson found reduced muscle mass, bone mineral content, and bone mineral density in the affected limb of 19 children with spastic hemiplegia. Lean muscle mass was reduced by 15 percent and bone mineral density by 6 percent in the affected limb of children with cerebral palsy compared to the unaffected limb. The researchers noted that further research is needed to determine if these reductions can be altered through weight-bearing activities.