Short-Term Resistance Training in Older Adults (OART)

April 26, 2021 updated by: Ashley Herda, University of Kansas

Changes to Muscle Quality and Sarcopenia Status After Short-Term Resistance Training in Older Adults

The purpose of this study will be to evaluate whether dumbbell resistance training (DBRT) or elastic band resistance training (EBRT) is beneficial in older adults whom may be classified as sarcopenic based on the collective operational definition and older adults that do not meet the criteria to be considered sarcopenic compared to non-exercise controls of these populations after sarcopenia criteria have been established. As well as identify if resistance exercise will improve muscle quality in older adults, considering how muscle quality relates to sarcopenia status. Specific Aim 1 will determine if short-term resistance training will alter muscle quality or sarcopenia status in older adults compared to non-exercise controls. The study team will instruct and supervise adults aged 55-85 in structured, periodized EBRT or DBRT for 6 weeks. After the training, muscle quality and sarcopenia status will be re-evaluated. It is hypothesized that both types of training (EBRT and DBRT) will improve the sarcopenia status of older adults engaging in resistance training and if sarcopenic, their classification may change to non-sarcopenic. A secondary hypothesis is that EBRT will be more beneficial than DBRT, resulting in greater changes in body composition, strength, and functional movements. It is also hypothesized that muscle quality, as an index of relative strength, will improve after 6 weeks of resistance training with either dumbbells or elastic bands and that there is a strong negative linear relationship between severity of sarcopenia and muscle quality. Specific Aim 2 will evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia in older adults using previously-identified equations and cut-off values and to subsequently generate a new index to include functional muscle mass and performance to identify sarcopenic individuals. This will be completed using muscle mass estimations from dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), functional performance measures, and structural composition. It is hypothesized that DEXA and BIA will provide accurate estimates of appendicular lean mass (ALM), and functional performance (handgrip strength and gait speed) will be significant contributors to a predictive equation of a muscle quality index for men and women.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

It is well known that as adults age, a proportion of lean body mass is reduced if not lost, specifically fast twitch (FT or Type II) fibers, and subsequently, strength and power is diminished. The age-related loss of muscle mass and function is referred to as sarcopenia. Reduction of muscle mass plays a direct role in the loss of function, and potentially, the ability to complete activities of daily living. It is also highly related to an increase in incidence of falls and onset of many other comorbidities resulting in changes in quality of life (QOL). Copeland et al. recently reported that strength training will benefit all adults, regardless of their functional level, based on a self-report survey of nearly 10,000 adults aged 60 years and older. Aside from diagnosing sarcopenia in individuals using pre-identified criteria (and doing so accurately), it is of the utmost importance to implement resistance exercise programs in populations of older adults that can directly combat the decline in type II fiber size, maintain aerobic fitness, aid in maintaining or reducing total body fat, minimize the prevalence of sarcopenia, and ultimately improve QOL. Targeted interventions that include dumbbell and elastic band resistance training (both considered free-movement) and progressive programming schemes have been reported to enhance muscle size, strength, and quality, functional mobility, and confidence in older adults, in turn, reducing percent body fat, risk of falls, and incidence of comorbidities that are often coupled with senescence. Recently, Calatayud et al. reported similar improvements in strength and muscle activation (electromyographic [EMG] amplitude) between free weight (bench press) and resistance band (band push-up) exercises, suggesting either mode of resistance exercise would be beneficial. Furthermore, use of resistance bands for chest flys and reverse flys were validated to be comparable with conventional free weights. There are several exercises that can be duplicated using either modality. However, the challenge is the vertical plane for free weights, as free weights only provide resistance against gravity and exercise movements, more specifically, body position, need to be modified in order to perform the resisted movement. Some older adults tend to have balance impairments and thus adjusting their body position to perform (dumbbell) resisted exercise may not be ideal, specifically if they may have a greater risk for falls as suggested by sarcopenia status (i.e. reduced muscle mass and gait speed or strength). Therefore the purpose of this study will be to evaluate whether dumbbell resistance training (DBRT) or elastic band resistance training (EBRT) is beneficial in older adults whom may be classified as sarcopenic based on the collective operational definition and older adults that do not meet the criteria to be considered sarcopenic compared to non-exercise controls of these populations after sarcopenia criteria have been established. As well as identify if resistance exercise will improve muscle quality in older adults, considering how muscle quality relates to sarcopenia status.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

73

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
    • Kansas
      • Overland Park, Kansas, United States, 66213
        • University of Kansas-Edwards Campus; Exercise and Human Performance Laboratory

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

53 years to 83 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Subject has provided written and dated informed consent to participate in the study.
  • Subject is a male or female between 55 and 85 years of age, inclusive.
  • Subject is in good health as determined by a health history questionnaire and has been provided clearance from their personal physician.
  • Subject is untrained in resistance and aerobic exercise (does not participate in structured physical activity, including walking, more than 3 times per week).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Subject has a history of alcohol or other drug abuse in the past year.
  • Subject has a history or current presence of congestive heart failure, or any other form of cardiovascular disease that might put the subject at risk.
  • Subject has a significant history or current presence of untreated bleeding disorder, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure (BP) [systolic BP> 140 and/or diastolic BP> 90], thyroid disease, tachyarrhythmia, heart disease, kidney disease, or liver disease.
  • Subject currently suffers from a sleep disorder and/or has a known history of (or is currently being treated for) clinical depression, eating disorder(s) or any other psychiatric condition(s) that might put the subject at risk and/or confound the results of the study.
  • Subject has a history of orthopedic injury or surgery within the last year that may prevent them from completing the study procedures.
  • Subject has arthritis of the hand which could impair his/her ability to grip a dynamometer.
  • Subject has severe arthritis defined as grade 3 or higher as diagnosed by a physician.
  • No history of CT scans (computed tomography), PET and nuclear medicine studies, or fluoroscopic procedures within the past year. Nuclear medicine imaging studies use agents that will interfere with the DXA whole body scan.
  • No implants, hardware, devices, or other foreign material in the measurement area. These devices will make whole body measurements difficult to interpret when the devices or implants are located within the scan field.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Elastic band resistance training
Resistance training with elastic resistance bands two days per week for 6-weeks.
Behavioral: Resistance exercise program
Exercise sessions with exercise science professional. Target hypertrophy repetition range and progressive resistance exercise.
Other Names:
  • control-no exercise
Active Comparator: Dumbbell resistance training
Resistance training with dumbbell weights two days per week for 6-weeks.
Behavioral: Resistance exercise program
Exercise sessions with exercise science professional. Target hypertrophy repetition range and progressive resistance exercise.
Other Names:
  • control-no exercise
No Intervention: Non-exercise Control
Education and guidance for exercise recommendations in older adults but no active training sessions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Muscle mass
Time Frame: 6-weeks
Quantity of upper and lower body muscle mass with DXA (in kg)
6-weeks
Upper and lower body strength
Time Frame: 6-weeks
Maximal amount of weight lifted in 5 repetitions for bench press and leg press
6-weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fat mass
Time Frame: 6-weeks
Quantity of fat assessed by DXA
6-weeks
Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)
Time Frame: 6-weeks
gait speed and balance tests
6-weeks
Handgrip Strength
Time Frame: 6-weeks
maximal dominant hand handgrip strength (in kg)
6-weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Kansas

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ashley A Herda, PhD, University of Kansas

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

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)

April 9, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 16, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

October 30, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 10, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 28, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 26, 2021

Last Verified

April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00143495

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

IPD Plan Description

If required for publication, IPD will be made available through an Institution-supported database server.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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