Electrical Stimulation Counteracts Muscle Decline in Seniors

Abstract

The loss in muscle mass coupled with a decrease in specific force and shift in fiber composition are hallmarks of aging. Training and regular exercise attenuate the signs of sarcopenia. However, pathologic conditions limit the ability to perform physical exercise. We addressed whether electrical stimulation (ES) is an alternative intervention to improve muscle recovery and defined the molecular mechanism associated with improvement in muscle structure and function. We analyzed, at functional, structural, and molecular level, the effects of ES training on healthy seniors with normal life style, without routine sport activity. ES was able to improve muscle torque and functional performances of seniors and increased the size of fast muscle fibers. At molecular level, ES induced up-regulation of IGF-1 and modulation of MuRF-1, a muscle-specific atrophy-related gene. ES also induced up-regulation of relevant markers of differentiating satellite cells and of extracellular matrix remodeling, which might guarantee shape and mechanical forces of trained skeletal muscle as well as maintenance of satellite cell function, reducing fibrosis. Our data provide evidence that ES is a safe method to counteract muscle decline associated with aging.

Functional electrical stimulation as a safe and effective treatment for equine epaxial muscle spasms: Clinical evaluations and histochemical morphometry of mitochondria in muscle biopsies

“…28 An expanding list of studies are indicating that the application of FES on healthy muscle can elicit some of the same metabolic benefits as voluntary muscle active exercise. [29][30][31] The purpose of this study was to confirm that FES is an effective and safe means to reduce chronic muscle spasms in the top line of horses. The present study will add objective histological evidence to previous clinical findings, 27 through the evaluation of equine epaxial muscle biopsies harvested before and after 8 weeks of FES treatments.…”

CIR-Myo News: Proceedings of the 2014 Spring Padua Muscle Days

“…The group of sedentary seniors was also exercised for 10 weeks with two different types of training (leg press or electrical stimulation) and the analyses performed before and after the training period. End-point results confirm the effectiveness of h-b FES, [13][14][15] Main results demonstrate that: 1. biopsies from young men seldom contain denervated, reinnervated or transformed muscle fibers; 2. biopsies from sedentary seniors contain both denervated, coexpressing myofibers and a few reinnervated clustered myofibers of the fast type; and 3. senior sportsmen present with a larger percentage of healthy, slow myofibers that appear mainly clustered in slow fibertype groupings. Further analyses of the data reveal that there was no difference between the athletic and sedentary senior groups in terms of their (both very low) percentages of muscle fibers co-expressing fast and slow MHCs, suggesting that lifelong exercise does not simply induce motor unit transitions.…”

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Reduces Intermittent Claudication (IC) and Improves Quality of Life (QOL) Measures: A Cohort Crossover

“…With the advent of biomedical electronics, the adoption of wireless wearable FES systems is gaining acceptance in clinical practice over the more traditional, non-wearable, wiredependent devices collectively known as neuromuscular electrical stimulators (NMES) [4]. The primary advantage of wearable FES systems is enabling many patients to improve performance in activities of daily living (ADL).…”

“…Moreover, numerous clinical studies using NMES to induce muscle contraction in the absence of functional training, typically limit clinical outcome to minimize impairments. Specifically, clinical data support the use of NMES to significantly increase total RNA content and reduce protein degradation in post-operative patients [13], improve physical performance, partially reverse sarcopenia by increasing muscle cross section area and capacity to perform daily activity [4,14], and increase the body's glycolytic metabolism in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus [15,16]. Applying wearable FES to patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) while walking is a novel approach aimed at reducing intermittent claudication (IC), improving walking distance, and enhancing quality of life measures.…”

“…Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a common intervention option in rehabilitation medicine supported by robust peer-reviewed publications [1][2][3][4]. With the advent of biomedical electronics, the adoption of wireless wearable FES systems is gaining acceptance in clinical practice over the more traditional, non-wearable, wiredependent devices collectively known as neuromuscular electrical stimulators (NMES) [4].…”