Prehabilitative Exercise Prior to Immobilization

NCT06205784 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: BBH164
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 64
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a 10-week human study involving 24 younger (20-35 y) and 24 older (65-85 y) healthy individuals. All participants will undergo unilateral immobilization of a knee for 7-10 days, followed by 4 weeks of heavy resistance exercise training (HReT). Half of the participants (12 younger and 12 older) will also undergo 4 weeks HReT prior to the immobilization. Prehabilitative exercise may confer protective effects on subsequent immobilization, and the various underlying mechanisms involved

Conditions

Sarcopenia; Skeletal Muscle Atrophy; Disuse Atrophy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Quadriceps cross-sectional area

  Quadriceps cross-sectional area measured by MRI

  From pre (week 0) to post immobilization (week 5)

Secondary Outcomes (12)

• Muscle fiber size

  From pre (week 0) to post immobilization (week 5) and post retraining (week 10)

• Denervated muscle fibers

  From pre (week 0) to post immobilization (week 5) and post retraining (week 10)

• Muscle protein synthesis

  From pre immobilization (week 4) to post immobilization (week 5)

• Muscle gene expression

  From pre (week 0) to post immobilization (week 5) and post retraining (week 10)

• Brain structure

  From pre (week 0) to post immobilization (week 5) and post retraining (week 10)

Study Arms (2)

Prehab

EXPERIMENTAL

Other: Prehabilitative exercise

NoTrain

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Prehabilitative exercise OTHER

3-4 weeks of heavy resistance exercise

Prehab

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years - 85 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age: Between 20-35 years old or between 65-85 years old.
• BMI: Between 18.5 and 35 kg/m2.
• Healthy and well, with normal dietary habits (not vegan).

You may not qualify if:

• More than one muscle biopsy previously taken from both vastus lateralis muscles.
• Smoking.
• Pregnancy.
• Past or present substance or alcohol abuse.
• Medical/surgical conditions that are assessed to affect protein synthesis or the participant's involvement in the trial.
• Knee pain that could affect the completion of the training intervention.
• High intake of supplements that increase the risk of bleeding during muscle biopsy (such as fish oil and ginger).
• Participation in regular strength training within the past year.
• Regular participation in structured sports.
• Current use of blood-thinning medication.
• Previous participation in trials involving oral intake of heavy water.
• Metal in the body preventing MRI scanning.
• For the older group, not having gone through menopause, and for the younger group, not having a regular menstrual cycle.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bispebjerg Hospital: lead

Study Sites (1)

Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Capital Region, 2400, Denmark

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Sarcopenia; Muscular Atrophy; Muscular Disorders, Atrophic

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

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

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Postdoc

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 19, 2023
• First Posted: January 16, 2024
• Study Start: January 6, 2024
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2025
• Study Completion: June 1, 2025
• Last Updated: September 19, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Locations

DK (1)