Elderly patients and high force resistance exercise--a descriptive report: can an anabolic, muscle growth response occur without muscle damage or inflammation?
OBJECTIVE
Elderly individuals participate in resistance exercise to induce an anabolic response and grow muscle to help overcome functional deficits. It is thought that a muscle damage and inflammatory response to resistance exercise is a necessary prerequisite for an anabolic and muscle growth response.


METHODS
This is a descriptive study of 11 elderly individuals in rehabilitation who underwent a 2-3x/week high force resistance exercise that used eccentric contractions. Serum measures of muscle damage, inflammation, and an anabolic response are reported along with changes in muscle mass as measured with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.


RESULTS
Negative work increased >3-fold during the 11 weeks of resistance exercise. There were no significant changes in the damage measure of serum creatine kinase (pretraining: 18.5 +/- 1.2 Sigma units/ml; post-training: 19.2 +/- 1.1 Sigma units/ml). Proinflammatory tumor necrosis factor-alpha values remained within normal range (<4.0 pg/ml) throughout the 11 weeks of training. A nonsignificant trend for an anabolic increase (65%) in insulin like growth factor-1 was noted along with a significant increase (6%) in thigh muscle mass.


CONCLUSIONS
Neither damage, nor inflammation appear to be prerequisites for inducing anabolic and muscle growth responses in elderly individuals undergoing a high force resistance exercise with eccentric contractions.
LaStayo
Paul
P
University of Utah, Division of Physical Therapy and the Department of Orthopedics, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. paul.lastayo@health.utah.edu
McDonagh
Paul
P
Lipovic
Dani
D
Napoles
Phyllis
P
Bartholomew
Amelia
A
Esser
Karyn
K
Lindstedt
Stan
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001642:Bicycling / Q000502:physiology; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008660:Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology / Q000293:injuries; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood; D014891:Weight Lifting / Q000502:physiology*
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D003402:Creatine Kinase