Blood flow-restricted exercise may counteract age-related muscle decay
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Key takeaways:
- Low-load blood flow-restricted resistance exercise may promote muscle fiber hypertrophy in healthy older adults.
- This type of training may help combat age-related muscle decay.
Published results showed low-load blood flow-restricted resistance exercise may stimulate skeletal muscle growth, improve muscle function and counteract muscle decay in older adults.
Researchers analyzed muscle fiber morphology, integrated muscle protein synthesis, muscle stem cells, myonuclear content and muscle functional capacity in 12 healthy adults (mean age of 67 years) who were randomized to 6 weeks of low-load blood flow-restricted resistance exercise (BFRRE). They also analyzed a non-exercise control cohort of 11 patients (mean age of 63 years).
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Researchers found BFRRE was effective in enhancing muscle maximal strength and muscle strength-endurance capacity. BFRRE also produced substantial hypertrophy of type I and type II muscle fibers. According to the study, BFRRE increased the cross-sectional area of type I fibers by 18.1% and type II fibers by 22.2%. Patients in the control group who did not undergo BFRRE saw a –3.7% change in type I fiber cross-sectional area and a –4.8% change in type II fiber cross-sectional area.
“Notably, this magnitude of muscle fiber hypertrophy was achieved with a modest volume of work and with very limited time spent during exercise, emphasizing the potential of BFRRE as a potent strategy to promote muscle hypertrophy in older individuals,” the researchers wrote in the study.
Perspective
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The study by Jakob Wang and colleagues investigating short-term blood flow restricted (BFR) resistance training in primarily older adult men adds to the existing literature that BFR exercise is effective at inducing muscle hypertrophy and improving muscle function. However, this translational research extends what we know about BFR exercise as the researchers found that both type I and type II fibers undergo hypertrophy, but, surprisingly, in the absence of hallmark indicators of protein synthesis. This provides researchers direction for future studies as the adaptations from BFR resistance training from other mechanisms of hypertrophy and/or the possibility of attenuated protein degradation should be investigated, perhaps with a greater representation of female participants. Clinicians can use the results of this study for further validation that BFR resistance training is an effective exercise modality to improve muscle size, strength and physical function in older adults.
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