title: Recovery from muscle weakness by exercise and FES: lessons from Masters, active or sedentary seniors and SCI patients.
abstract: Many factors contribute to the decline of skeletal muscle that occurs as we age. This is a reality that we may combat, but not prevent because it is written into our genome. The series of records from World Master Athletes reveals that skeletal muscle power begins to decline at the age of 30 years and continues, almost linearly, to zero at the age of 110 years. Here we discuss evidence that denervation contributes to the atrophy and slowness of aged muscle. We compared muscle from lifelong active seniors to that of sedentary elderly people and found that the sportsmen have more muscle bulk and slow fiber type groupings, providing evidence that physical activity maintains slow motoneurons which reinnervate muscle fibers. Further, accelerated muscle atrophy/degeneration occurs with irreversible Conus and Cauda Equina syndrome, a spinal cord injury in which the human leg muscles may be permanently disconnected from the nervous system with complete loss of muscle fibers within 5-8 years. We used histological morphometry and Muscle Color Computed Tomography to evaluate muscle from these peculiar persons and reveal that contraction produced by home-based Functional Electrical Stimulation (h-bFES) recovers muscle size and function which is reversed if h-bFES is discontinued. FES also reverses muscle atrophy in sedentary seniors and modulates mitochondria in horse muscles. All together these observations indicate that FES modifies muscle fibers by increasing contractions per day. Thus, FES should be considered in critical care units, rehabilitation centers and nursing facilities when patients are unable or reluctant to exercise.
authors: IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo, Venice, Italy.
authors: Ugo
authors: U
authors: Carraro
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria.|Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Helmut
authors: H
authors: Kern
authors: Laboratory of Translational Myology of the Interdepartmental Research Center of Myology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padua, Italy.
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Gava
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Hofer
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Loefler
authors: Institute for Biomedical and Neural Engineering, Reykjavík, Iceland.|Landspítali, Reykjavík, Iceland.
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Gargiulo
authors: Institute for Biomedical and Neural Engineering, Reykjavík, Iceland.
authors: Kyle
authors: K
authors: Edmunds
authors: Institute for Biomedical and Neural Engineering, Reykjavík, Iceland.
authors: Íris Dröfn
authors: ÍD
authors: Árnadóttir
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria.|Laboratory of Translational Myology of the Interdepartmental Research Center of Myology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padua, Italy.
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Zampieri
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria.|Laboratory of Translational Myology of the Interdepartmental Research Center of Myology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padua, Italy.
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Ravara
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria.|Laboratory of Translational Myology of the Interdepartmental Research Center of Myology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padua, Italy.
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Gava
authors: Laboratory of Translational Myology of the Interdepartmental Research Center of Myology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padua, Italy.
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Nori
authors: Department of Biomedical Science, C.N.R. Institute of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
authors: Valerio
authors: V
authors: Gobbo
authors: Rehabilitation Unit, Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Masiero
authors: IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo, Venice, Italy.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Marcante
authors: IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo, Venice, Italy.
authors: Alfonc
authors: A
authors: Baba
authors: IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo, Venice, Italy.
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Piccione
authors: EquiNew, River Falls, WI, USA.
authors: Sheila
authors: S
authors: Schils
authors: Anatomy Department, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Carbondale, IL, USA.
authors: Amber
authors: A
authors: Pond
authors: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Electrical Stimulation and Physical Rehabilitation, Vienna, Austria. bioteck88@gmail.com.|Laboratory of Translational Myology of the Interdepartmental Research Center of Myology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padua, Italy. bioteck88@gmail.com.
authors: Simone
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0765-1426
authors: S
authors: Mosole
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002420:Cauda Equina / Q000293:injuries; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000473:pathology; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000534:rehabilitation; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: Aging; Denervation and type grouping; FES recovery; Master Athletes; Muscle; Muscle Color Computed Tomography