Muscle Function: Effects of Aging

Introduction[edit | edit source]

As we age our muscles undergo progressive changes, primarily involving loss of muscle mass and strength.

The age-related loss of muscle function is known as Sarcopenia[1], derived from the Greek words for flesh (sarcos) and loss (penia) and its definition includes loss of muscle strength and power, as well as reduced function[2]. It occurs with increasing age, and is a major component in the development of frailty.

The loss of muscle mass during the aging process is important clinically as it reduces strength and exercise capacity, both which are needed to perform activities of daily living.

Age-related changes in muscle structure[edit | edit source]

With increasing age, we lose muscle mass: lean muscle mass contributes up to 50% of total body weight in young adults, but this decreases to 25% by 75 to 80 years[3]
Typical muscle changes with age:

Gross Muscle changes:[edit | edit source]

Reduced muscle mass (replaced by increased fat mass)[edit | edit source]

Reduction in lower limb muscle cross-sectional area have been observed to begin in early adulthood and accelerate beyond 50 years of age.This reduction in muscle cross-sectional area associated with decreases in contractile structures accompanied by increases in non contractile structures such as fat and connective tissue.[4]

Reduced muscle strength[edit | edit source]

The total number of muscle fibers is significantly reduced with age, beginning at about 25 years and progressing at an accelerated rate thereafter The decline in muscle cross-sectional area is most likely due to decreases in total fiber number, especially type II fast-twitch glycolytic fibers. This results in reduced muscle power.[5]

Muscle Fibre changes:[edit | edit source]

Changes in Muscle Fiber Size[edit | edit source]

Elderly individuals often fall because of poor muscle strength and reduced balancing ability related to muscle aging. Types IIA and IIB muscle fibers decrease with age in the area percentage, fiber number percentage, and mean fiber area, whereas Type I fibers increase in area and number but not in size. Morphologically, Type II fibers appeared smaller and flatter. Investigations suggest deterioration in muscle quality and balancing coordination in elderly patients. We provide data to help determine treatments for reversing muscle fiber changes and reducing the number of falls and related fractures in patients.[6]The reduction in number of muscle fibers contributes more to the decrease of whole muscle cross-sectional area than does the reduction in area of individual fibers. The individual fast-twitch type II fibers decrease in cross-sectional area suggest that the relative contribution of fast-twitch type II fibers to force generation is less in the older adult.

Motor Unit Number and Size[edit | edit source]

The majority of the literature indicates that muscle fiber loss is due to a loss in motor neurons. There is consistent denervation and reinervation of the muscle fiber throughout one’s lifespan, but in the aged, denervation appears to outpace reinveration. Data indicate that a 60 year-old has approximately 25-50% fewer motor neurons than a 20 year-old, with the greatest losses in distal fast twitch motor neurons With the loss of the motor neuron, the deinervated fast twitch muscle fibers that were attached to it are either permanently deinervated and undergo apoptosis, or are reinverated with a different motor neuron most likely that of a slow twitch neuron, potentially making the fiber take on slow twitch characteristics[7]

Effects of endocrine changes on muscle[edit | edit source]

With increased age, the following changes in endocrine function result in sarcopenia:

  • Increased insulin resistance[8]
  • Decreased growth hormone[9]
  • Reduction in oestrogen and testosterone[10]
  • Vitamin D deficiency[11]
  • Increased parathyroid hormone[12]

Conditions associated with impairment of skeletal function[edit | edit source]

Functional Effects of Sarcopenia[edit | edit source]

Sarcopenia has a marked effect on function in all activities of daily living, contributing (along with reduction in balance) to reduced gait speed, falls, and fractures. The combination of osteoporosis and sarcopenia results in the frailty which frequently occurs in the elderly population.

Physiotherapy Interventions to minimise or reverse sarcopenia[edit | edit source]

Resistance exercise training :[edit | edit source]

The effects of resisted exercise on ageing muscles is the same as for young muscles:

  • improved muscle strength
  • increased muscle power - power is a product of both strength and speed. Optimal power reflects how quickly you can exert force to produce the desired movement
  • improved muscle composition

Evidence:[edit | edit source]

Population studies[edit | edit source]

Resistance or weight training has been demonstrated to produce increases in muscle strength and power, and also mobility function, in older people living in the following settings:

  1. independently in the community[13],[14],[15]
  2. in nursing homes[16],[17],[18]
  3. hospitalised elderly people[19],[20]

Gender differences[edit | edit source]

Increased muscle quality from resistance training is a common finding in older adults, and in men there appears to be no difference in young versus old[21], but there is a study which suggests that older women have a blunted response relative to younger women[22].

Frequency of resistance training[edit | edit source]

Studies have demonstrated that resistance training regimes performed once, twice or even three times a week all result in strength improvements[23].

Length of training programme[edit | edit source]

There are many studies which clearly demonstrate that older people who participate in resistance training programmes lasting at least 6 to 12 weeks will show increase in both strength and mobility function[24][25][26].

Cochrane Review[edit | edit source]

The authors collated the results from 121 RCTs examing the effects of resistance strength training exercises, and came to the following conclusions:

"This review provides evidence that PRT (Progressive resistance strength training) is an effective intervention for improving physical functioning in older people, including improving strength and the performance of some simple and complex activities. However, some caution is needed with transferring these exercises for use with clinical populations because adverse events are not adequately reported."[27]

Dietary Advice[edit | edit source]

The Society for Sarcopenia, Cachexia, and Wasting convened an expert panel to develop nutritional recommendations for sarcopenia prevention and management.This panel concluded that for preventing and treating this condition, protein and energy intake are key components, along with both resistance and aerobic exercise.

Is there a role for supplements?[edit | edit source]

There is some evidence suggesting that additional supplementation with the amino acid Leucine (or its metabolite HMB) could potentially increase the effects of resistance training to combat sarcopenia[28][29].

Resources[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Rosenberg IH: Sarcopenia: origins and clinical relevance. J Nutr 127:990S-991S, 1997
  2. Rolland Y, Czerwinski S, Abellan Van Kan G, et al: Sarcopenia: its assessment, etiology, pathogenesis, consequences and future perspectives. J Nutr Health Aging 12:433-450, 200
  3. Short KR, Nair KS: The effect of age on protein metabolism. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 3:39-44, 2000
  4. Henwood TR, Riek S, Taaffe DR: Strength versus muscle power-specific resistance training in community-dwelling older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 63:83-91, 2008
  5. Henwood TR, Riek S, Taaffe DR: Strength versus muscle power-specific resistance training in community-dwelling older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 63:83-91, 2008
  6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16691139 Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China
  7. http://omicsonline.org/aging-and-the-motor-unit-2161-0673.S1-e001.pdf
  8. Refaie MR, Sayed-Ahmed NA, Bakr AM, Aziz MY, El Kannishi MH, Abdel-Gawad SS. Aging is an inevitable risk factor for insulin resistance. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences. 2006 Jan 1;1(1):30-41.
  9. Toogood AA: Growth hormone (GH) status and body composition in normal ageing and in elderly adults with GH deficiency. Horm Res 60:105-111, 2003
  10. Gower BA, Nyman L: Associations among oral estrogen use, free testosterone concentration, and lean body mass among postmenopausal women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 85:4476-4480, 200
  11. Wicherts IS, van Schoor NM, Boeke AJ, et al: Vitamin D status predicts physical performance and its decline in older persons. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 92:2058-2065, 200
  12. Visser M, Deeg DJ, Lips P: Low vitamin D and high parathyroid hormone levels as determinants of loss of muscle strength and muscle mass (sarcopenia): the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 88:5766-5772, 200
  13. Beneka A, Malliou P, Fatouros I, et al: Resistance training effects on muscular strength of elderly are related to intensity and gender. J Sci Med Sport 8:274-283, 2005
  14. Henwood TR, Riek S, Taaffe DR: Strength versus muscle power-specific resistance training in community-dwelling older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 63:83-91, 2008
  15. Taaffe DR, Duret C, Wheeler S, et al: Once-weekly resistance exercise improves muscle strength and neuromuscular performance in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 47:1208-1214, 1999
  16. Beyer N, Simonsen L, Bulow J, et al: Old women with a recent fall history show improved muscle strength and function sustained for six months after finishing training. Aging Clin Exp Res 19:300-309, 2007
  17. Beyer N, Simonsen L, Bulow J, et al: Old women with a recent fall history show improved muscle strength and function sustained for six months after finishing training. Aging Clin Exp Res 19:300-309, 2007
  18. Harridge SD, Kryger A, Stensgaard A: Knee extensor strength, activation, and size in very elderly people following strength training. Muscle Nerve 22:831-839, 1999
  19. Hauer K, Specht N, Schuler M, et al: Intensive physical training in geriatric patients after severe falls and hip surgery. Age Ageing 31:49-57, 2002
  20. Suetta C, Magnusson SP, Rosted A, et al: Resistance training in the early postoperative phase reduces hospitalization and leads to muscle hypertrophy in elderly hip surgery patients—a controlled, randomized study. J Am Geriatr Soc 52:2016-2022, 2004
  21. Ivey FM, Tracy BL, Lemmer JT, et al: Effects of strength training and detraining on muscle quality: age and gender comparisons. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 55:B152-B157; discussion B8-B9, 2000
  22. Hakkinen K, Alen M, Kallinen M, et al: Neuromuscular adaptation during prolonged strength training, detraining and re-strength-training in middle-aged and elderly people. Eur J Appl Physiol 83:51-62, 200
  23. Taaffe DR, Duret C, Wheeler S, et al: Once-weekly resistance exercise improves muscle strength and neuromuscular performance in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 47:1208-1214, 199
  24. Galvao DA, Newton RU, Taaffe DR: Anabolic responses to resistance training in older men and women: a brief review. J Aging Phys Act 13:343-358, 200
  25. Hunter GR, McCarthy JP, Bamman MM: Effects of resistance training on older adults. Sports Med 34:329-348, 2004
  26. Phillips SM: Resistance exercise: good for more than just Grandma and Grandpa’s muscles. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 32:1198-1205, 200
  27. Liu CJ, Latham NK: Progressive resistance strength training for improving physical function in older adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 3:CD002759, 200
  28. Anthony JC, Anthony TG, Kimball SR, Vary TC, Jefferson LS. Orally administered leucine stimulates protein synthesis in skeletal muscle of postabsorptive rats in association with increased elF4F formation. J Nutr. 2000;130:139–145
  29. Vukovich MD, Stubbs NB, Bohlken RM. Body composition in 70-year-old adults responds to dietary beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate similarly to that of young adults. J Nutr. 2001;131:2049–2052