medwireNews: Muscle strength exercise training (MSET) has a positive effect on lean mass gain and muscle hypertrophy in older adults with lower limb osteoarthritis (OA), show results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Writing in Arthritis Care & Research, Tsan-Hon Liou (University of Taipei, Taiwan) and co-authors say: “Clinicians should incorporate MSET into their management of patients at risk of low muscle mass to maximize health status, particularly for older individuals with OA.”
Their systematic review identified 19 randomized controlled trials that reported the effect of MSET on lean mass, muscle thickness, and cross‐sectional area (CSA) among 1195 patients (mean age 62 years, 65% women) with knee (65%) or hip OA.
The researchers say that they chose these outcomes because the majority of previous systematic reviews assessing MSET in OA have “focused on strength and function outcomes” rather than changes in lean mass and muscle volume.
Resistance training was the most common type of MSET used among the studies (n=14), three used aquatic exercise, one investigated high-intensity interval exercise using stationary cycling, and one employed multicomponent exercise training comprising strengthening and aerobic exercise.
Overall, 60% of participants received MSET, 8% received an exercise-control intervention, and 32% received usual care.
Liou and team found that MSET resulted in significantly higher lean mass and cross-sectional area gain compared with usual care, with weighted mean differences of 0.44 kg and 3.01 cm2, respectively.
In addition, relative to no exercise, MSET had a significant positive effect on muscle thickness (standardized mean differed [SMD]=0.82) that was greater in men (SMD=1.62) than women (SMD=0.74).
The researchers also observed more favorable effects on muscle volume with MSET among patients who received the intervention after arthroplasty compared with those who received it before arthroplasty and those who did not undergo arthroplasty.
Of note, there were no significant differences in any of the outcomes tested between patients who took part in MSET and those in the exercise control groups.
The suggests that “patients responded well to MSET and other types of muscle strength therapy, such as neuromuscular electrical stimulation,” Liou et al remark.
And the authors conclude: “Strength exercise may exert effects to offset muscle attenuation or prevent sarcopenia in older individuals with osteoarthritis, especially in older men and those who undergo knee or hip arthroplasty.”
By Laura Cowen
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