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In a 1990 Boston study, nine frail nursing-home residents aged around 90 nearly tripled their leg strength after eight weeks of weight training. Their strength rose by an average of 174 percent, a sign that muscle keeps responding to training even in very old age.

JAMA, 1990

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The story behind the card

The study was led by Maria Fiatarone with researchers from Tufts University and published in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. Ten volunteers living at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged in Boston, the oldest aged 96, trained their thigh muscles on weight machines at high intensity; nine completed the programme. Besides the strength gain, their thigh muscles grew by about 9 percent and their speed on a heel-to-toe walking test rose by 48 percent. Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, raises the risk of falls, fractures and losing independence, and inactivity speeds it up. The NHS and the World Health Organization advise adults of every age to do muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week.

Türkçe oku
Boston'da 1990'da yapılan bir çalışmada, bakımevinde yaşayan ve yaşları 90 civarındaki dokuz kırılgan yaşlı, sekiz haftalık ağırlık çalışmasıyla bacak güçlerini neredeyse üçe katladı. Kas güçleri ortalama yüzde 174 arttı. Bu sonuç, kasların çok ileri yaşta bile çalışmaya yanıt verdiğini gösteriyor.
JAMA, 1990

Çalışmayı Maria Fiatarone, Tufts Üniversitesi'nden araştırmacılarla birlikte yürüttü; sonuçlar Amerikan Tabipler Birliği'nin dergisi JAMA'da yayımlandı. Boston'daki Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged adlı bakımevinde yaşayan, en yaşlısı 96 yaşında on gönüllü, ağırlık makinelerinde uyluk kaslarını yüksek yoğunlukta çalıştırdı; dokuzu programı tamamladı. Güç artışının yanı sıra uyluk kasları yüzde 9 kadar büyüdü, topuk-burun yürüyüş testindeki hızları da yüzde 48 arttı. Yaşa bağlı kas kaybına sarkopeni denir. Sarkopeni düşme, kırık ve başkasına muhtaç kalma riskini artırır; hareketsizlik de bu kaybı hızlandırır. Birleşik Krallık'ın ulusal sağlık kurumu NHS ve Dünya Sağlık Örgütü, her yaştan yetişkine haftada en az iki gün kasları güçlendiren hareketler yapmayı öneriyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Sarcopenia
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