Rates of Recovery From Strenuous Exercise in Physically Active Older Adults

January 19, 2021 updated by: Hirofumi Tanaka, University of Texas at Austin
The purpose of this study to determine if older adults who are healthy and physically active (i.e., Masters athletes) demonstrate slower rates of recovery from unaccustomed strenuous exercise of downhill running than younger peers.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

There is a well-conceived notion that the recovery from strenuous exercise gets slower as individuals get older in age. Studies using animal models have demonstrated that stretching of electrically-activated skeletal muscle to mimic eccentric muscle contractions results in a greater decline and slower recovery in muscular force in old mice than in young mice. Similarly, in human studies using sedentary adults, age has been associated with a slower rate of recovery from a series of eccentric contractions. However, the process of aging is often confounded by coexisting diseases and gradual sedentary lifestyles that progress with advancing aging. Could older adults who are apparently healthy and habitually exercising demonstrate slower rates of recovery from strenuous exercise? In a small-scale study, recreationally-active middle-aged adults did not display a slower recovery from unaccustomed eccentric exercise than young adults. Masters athletes are an effective experimental model to address this question as extrinsic factors (e.g., deconditioning, chronic degenerative diseases) that often confound the intrinsic aging process can be minimized in this population. As no study has been conducted in Masters athletes, it is unknown if Masters athletes would experience slower rates of recovery similar to their sedentary peers.

With this information as background, the general aim of the proposed study is to determine if older adults who are healthy and physically active demonstrate slower rates of recovery from unaccustomed strenuous exercise of downhill running than younger peers. In an attempt to properly determine the influence of aging and regular physical activity, 4 groups of apparently healthy adults, including young sedentary, young trained, older sedentary, and older trained adults, will be studied.

A total of 60 apparently healthy men and women will serve as subjects. Half will be young [18-40-year-old (n=30)] and the other half older [50-80-year-old (n=30)]. After the screening and familiarization, investigators will ask participants to visit the laboratory four times (four consecutive days) to perform downhill running and to test physiological measurements (muscular strength, pain scale, range of motion, arterial stiffness and blood pressure and blood creatinine and myoglobin concentrations).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
        • Cardiovascular Aging Research Lab at UT Austin

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Sedentary (exercise < 1 time/week) or well-trained individuals (exercise ≧ 2 times/week)
  • Ages 18-39 and 50-80 years
  • Individuals who can safely exercise

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals who reports "Symptoms or Signs Suggestive of Disease" on the Health Research Questionnaire (heart and respiratory problems, dizziness and ankle edema).
  • Individuals who report substance abuse within the last 6 months (elicit drugs, alcohol)
  • Smokers

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: OTHER
  • Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Young Fit
Young (18-39 yrs) people who have endurance training habit
Other: exercise
acute downhill running
Experimental: Young Unfit
Young (18-39 yrs) people who have sedentary lifestyle.
Other: exercise
acute downhill running
Experimental: Older Fit
Older (50-80 yrs) people who have endurance training habit
Other: exercise
acute downhill running
Experimental: Older Unfit
Older (50-80 yrs) people who have sedentary lifestyle
Other: exercise
acute downhill running

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of Force Development
Time Frame: After the downhill running protocol, various markers of muscle damage and muscular strength were obtained 24 hours post (the third visit), 48 hours post (the forth visit) and 72 hours post (the fifth visit).
Rate of force development are measured by determining peak torque achieved on an isometric leg extension machine.
After the downhill running protocol, various markers of muscle damage and muscular strength were obtained 24 hours post (the third visit), 48 hours post (the forth visit) and 72 hours post (the fifth visit).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain Scale
Time Frame: After the downhill running protocol, muscle damage pain scale was measured 24 hours post (the third visit), 48 hours post (the forth visit) and 72 hours post (the fifth visit).
Pain scale on quadriceps muscle was assessed using a validated visual pain scale. The scale was on a 10-point scale (0 being absence of soreness, 10 being worst imaginable soreness).
After the downhill running protocol, muscle damage pain scale was measured 24 hours post (the third visit), 48 hours post (the forth visit) and 72 hours post (the fifth visit).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Texas at Austin

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 2, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

September 14, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2021

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2016-04-0070

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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