Two Weeks of Reduced Activity and Skeletal Muscle Health in Older Men

NCT02495727 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: UoB-SRS-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 12
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Muscle size declines at around 0.5-1% per year after 50 years of age, with muscle strength declining up to twice as fast as muscle size. This may eventually lead to loss of independence if tasks of daily living become too strenuous to be performed safely. Short periods of bed rest cause very rapid loss of muscle size and strength, and studies using healthy older participants have shown that age increases vulnerability to this muscle loss. However, it is unlikely that healthy individuals would be faced with periods of bed rest unless suffering a severe illness. In light of this, recent evidence has shown that even just reducing walking to less than 1,500 steps per day for two weeks caused 4% loss of leg muscle in over 65 year olds. This amount of activity is roughly the equivalent of being housebound, something that may become more common into older age, for example due to prolonged bad weather, or minor injury or illness. This study will investigate what causes such stark muscle loss during two weeks of reduced activity, and the impact on skeletal muscle function and size, as well as balance, body composition, and other indicators of general health such as how the body responds to food or exercise. Importantly, exercise strategies that could reduce muscle loss during a period of reduced activity will also be investigated. In brief, three groups of 10 older men (aged 65-80 years) will undertake two weeks of reduced physical activity by limiting their daily steps to \<1,500/day. All groups will then undertake a re-training exercise programme to ensure that any losses in muscle strength or size are regained. One of the groups will be a control, whereby they will undertake the step-reduction intervention and re-training, but no protective exercise before or during the step-reduction intervention. This group will allow us to achieve our primary objective of determining the influence of two weeks of reduced physical activity on muscle strength and size in healthy older males. The two other groups will undertake either four weeks of strength exercise training before the step-reduction intervention, or daily home based exercise 'snacking' during the step-reduction intervention. The potential protective benefits of the exercise interventions in reducing the impact of two weeks of reduced activity on muscle strength and size, and any effect on how muscle is re-gained afterwards, will be compared to the 'control' group.

Conditions

Muscular Atrophy

Keywords

Step-reduction model; Reduced activity; Atrophy; Skeletal Muscle; Sarcopenia; Dynapenia

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Lower limb muscle power

  Measured during leg pressing

  Two weeks- Change from baseline to post-step-reduction intervention

Secondary Outcomes (48)

• Lower limb muscle power

  Two weeks- Change from post-step-reduction intervention to post-re-training intervention

• Lower limb muscle power

  Four weeks- Change from pre-pre-training intervention to 'baseline' pre-step-reduction intervention

• Lower limb muscle force

  Two weeks- Change from baseline to post-step-reduction intervention

• Lower limb muscle force

  Two weeks- Change from post-step-reduction intervention to post-re-training intervention

• Lower limb muscle force

  Four weeks- Change from pre-pre-training intervention to 'baseline' pre-step-reduction intervention

Other Outcomes (2)

• Impact of pre-training on all primary and secondary outcomes

  Two weeks and four weeks- Change from baseline to post-step-reduction intervention, and from post-step-reduction intervention to post-retraining

• Impact of exercise snacking on all primary and secondary outcomes

  Two weeks and four weeks- Change from baseline to post-step-reduction intervention, and from post-step-reduction intervention to post-retraining

Study Arms (3)

Control Group

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will undertake two-weeks of step-reduction to \<1,500 steps per day, followed by two-weeks of strength training exercise (6 sessions).

Behavioral: Step-reduction

Pre-Training Group

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will undertake four weeks of strength training exercise (10 sessions) before two-weeks of step-reduction to \<1,500 steps per day, followed by two-weeks of strength training exercise (6 sessions).

Behavioral: Step-reduction; Behavioral: Pre-training

Exercise Snacking Group

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will undertake home-based 'exercise snacks' of simple lower limb movement (5 minutes, 3 times a day) whilst undertaking two-weeks of step-reduction to \<1,500 steps per day, followed by two-weeks of strength training exercise (6 sessions).

Behavioral: Step-reduction; Behavioral: Exercise snacking

Interventions

Step-reduction BEHAVIORAL

Participants will reduce the number of steps they take each day to less than 1, 500 for two weeks, using a pedometer to monitor their daily step count.

Also known as: Reduced physical activity

Control Group; Exercise Snacking Group; Pre-Training Group

Pre-training BEHAVIORAL

Participants will attend 10 strength training exercise sessions over a four week period prior to the step-reduction intervention. These exercise sessions will be focused on lower limb strength, fully supervised and will be progressive.

Pre-Training Group

Exercise snacking BEHAVIORAL

Participants will perform three bouts of five minutes of exercise each day during the two week step-reduction intervention. These will consist of five discrete exercises, each performed continuously for one minute, with one minute of rest between each exercise. These exercises will be non-supervised, and require no specialist equipment.

Exercise Snacking Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: male
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Aged 65 to 80 years
• Not underweight or obese (body mass index ≥20 and ≤ 30 kg/m2)
• Non-smoker (for \>5 years)

You may not qualify if:

• Any chronic illness, cardiac, pulmonary, liver, or kidney abnormalities, uncontrolled hypertension, peripheral arterial disease, insulin- or non-insulin dependent diabetes or other metabolic disorders - all ascertained through medical screening.
• Individuals who consume on a daily basis any analgesic or anti-inflammatory drug(s), prescription or non-prescription will be excluded.
• Individuals on any medications known to affect protein metabolism (i.e. corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, or prescription strength acne medications).
• Individuals with a history of bone, joint or neuromuscular problems or a current musculoskeletal injury ascertained through medical screening.
• Individuals with a known bleeding disorder, on the anticoagulant drug Warfarin, or prone to keloid scarring.
• Individuals with a known negative reaction to lidocaine anaesthetic.
• Individuals with any joint replacement surgical implants or other artefacts containing metal.
• Individuals who complete fewer than 3500 steps per day (as assessed by pedometer prior to the study).
• Individuals who score less than 8 on the short physical performance battery.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Bath: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Bath

Bath, Avon, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Breen L, Stokes KA, Churchward-Venne TA, Moore DR, Baker SK, Smith K, Atherton PJ, Phillips SM. Two weeks of reduced activity decreases leg lean mass and induces "anabolic resistance" of myofibrillar protein synthesis in healthy elderly. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Jun;98(6):2604-12. doi: 10.1210/jc.2013-1502. Epub 2013 Apr 15.

  PMID: 23589526 BACKGROUND

• Perkin OJ, Travers RL, Gonzalez JT, Turner JE, Gillison F, Wilson C, McGuigan PM, Thompson D, Stokes KA. Exercise strategies to protect against the impact of short-term reduced physical activity on muscle function and markers of health in older men: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2016 Aug 2;17:381. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1440-z.

  PMID: 27484001 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Muscular Atrophy; Atrophy; Sarcopenia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neuromuscular Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Pathological Conditions, Anatomical; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Keith Stokes, PhD

  University of Bath

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Mr Oliver Perkin

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 25, 2015
• First Posted: July 13, 2015
• Study Start: July 1, 2015
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2017
• Study Completion: October 1, 2017
• Last Updated: May 23, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-05

Locations

GB (1)