Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday March 12 2018, @09:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the Take-a-hike dept.

Muscle loss in old age linked to fewer nerve signals

Researchers say they may have worked out why there is a natural loss of muscle in the legs as people age - and that it is due to a loss of nerves. In tests on 168 men, they found that nerves controlling the legs decreased by around 30% by the age of 75. This made muscles waste away, but in older fitter athletes there was a better chance of them being 'rescued' by nerves re-connecting. The scientists published their research in the Journal of Physiology.

As people get older, their leg muscles become smaller and weaker, leading to problems with everyday movements such as walking up stairs or getting out of a chair.

Failure to expand the motor unit size to compensate for declining motor unit numbers distinguishes sarcopenic from non-sarcopenic older men (open, DOI: 10.1113/JP275520) (DX)


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday March 12 2018, @09:45PM (3 children)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Monday March 12 2018, @09:45PM (#651542) Journal

    No way, man. Those stairs are getting steeper. Both ways. Hills too. Also the air is thinner, and everyone's treading on my damned lawn, and... and... other stuff.

    • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Monday March 12 2018, @09:56PM (2 children)

      by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 12 2018, @09:56PM (#651545)
      I'm pretty sure some jackass is turning up earth's gravity a little bit each year as well.
      • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday March 12 2018, @11:10PM

        by fyngyrz (6567) on Monday March 12 2018, @11:10PM (#651573) Journal

        Is that what it is? I thought the sky was getting heavier.

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 12 2018, @11:42PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday March 12 2018, @11:42PM (#651582)

        That would be the same one that's hardening my corneas a little more every year.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 12 2018, @10:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 12 2018, @10:38PM (#651563)

    I come here for the comments.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 12 2018, @11:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 12 2018, @11:26PM (#651577)

    Since e=mc^2, and since as I age e is reducing while m is increasing, the only way to balance the equation is if c is changing. It just makes sense.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Monday March 12 2018, @11:41PM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Monday March 12 2018, @11:41PM (#651581)

    My legs may be thinner but I know all that mass went to my gut. Nope, not lost at all. dammit.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 12 2018, @11:45PM (11 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday March 12 2018, @11:45PM (#651583)

    If you haven't been to the gym in a few years and you go and get serious about lifting (first: get someone to help and reduce your chances of hurting yourself) - the first thing that happens is you train your nerves to coordinate your muscles. Your capacity to lift increases rather dramatically in the first few sessions, not because you've built muscle, but because you've trained the muscles you have to work together more effectively - doing gym stuff... because bench presses don't come up too often in daily life.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:02AM (10 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:02AM (#651588) Journal

      doing gym stuff... because bench presses don't come up too often in daily life.

      Note to myself: write an extension to gcc/llvm to condition the compilation speed/result on the number of bench presses executed by the requester. Do NOT implement any #pragma to silence it. If the compilation is launched by CI, ask the bench presses be performed by each and every committer to the build recorded by SCM.

      First sprint: implement the custom error message: "compilation failure, could not find enough bench presses". Take the result of the sprint as a feasibility study and assess if the other sprints can be carried out. If not, declare "sprinter dead" and archive the project in the same space as reiserfs.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:09AM (4 children)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:09AM (#651625) Journal

        What's the switch for this? -Wdoyouevenliftbro or somesuch?

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:32AM (3 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:32AM (#651638) Journal

          -Wdoyouevenliftbro

          Mmmm... no!
          Should be more inclusive, not limited to brogrammers - as small percentage as they may be in the C world.
          E.g. it shouldn't exclude the little mermaids [youtube.com] or accomplished shifu coders [youtube.com]

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:12AM (2 children)

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:12AM (#651652) Journal

            The Little Mermaid thing you linked got a genuine out-loud laugh from me :) Thank you for that!

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:17AM (1 child)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:17AM (#651655) Journal

              Happy to have made at least one person happy today.

              (I wish it was my manager, but I'll get whatever it is possible - grin)

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday March 14 2018, @03:46AM

                by RS3 (6367) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @03:46AM (#652142)

                I enjoyed it too, that last frame really did it for me. Thanks!

      • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:05AM (4 children)

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:05AM (#651651) Journal

        gym stuff?!?

        Wow are you all deep in the exercise propaganda. Manufacturers of weight lifting equipment and exercise bikes love you for it.

        Don't waste your time and energy on effort that has no point other than exercise, get your exercise doing something useful, such as housework! Vacuum the floors, clean and polish some more pans and counter tops, lug some laundry to the wash, or even better, actually use your hands to wash those "hand wash only" clothes you wouldn't have bought if you'd paid attention to that part. Or, do a bit of automobile maintenance. Or some yard work.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:08AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:08AM (#651675)

          I've got some snow you can shovel. I'll even give you a dollar to do it.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:49PM (2 children)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:49PM (#651791)

          I did mattress wrestling this past weekend - one king down the stairs, one king up - exhausting: yes. But, like automotive repair work, the lasting result are all the skinned knuckles.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
          • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:36PM (1 child)

            by bzipitidoo (4388) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:36PM (#651893) Journal

            That touches on a different complaint I have, which is, that the thoughtless idiots who design buildings and furniture have not cared enough to see what a pain they've made it. Why do we still have so many sharp corners? Just last week I tried to move a couch into an office and only after lugging it up the stairs, then inside and around the corners of the hallway, learned it wouldn't quite fit through the last door. So close, but no. It was an older office building with very narrow and short doors, the kind that a wheelchair can't fit through (not that a wheelchair bound person could reach the door anyway, as the building has no elevator) and the couch was an older style that had not been designed with removable legs.

            They are improving, slowly, with much complaining and yelling, and beating about the head with lawsuits over the Americans with Disabilities Act. Doors have become wider and taller. Most new furniture now has removable legs, or can be disassembled. The little shallow step up to the porch is out, and door sills are better. Most counter tops and coffee tables no longer have viciously pointy corners sticking out, ready to snag or impale anything that gets too close. Prudent to cover those kinds of corners with a tennis ball that's been cut open. I also very much do not miss snaggy drawer and cupboard handles with the crossbar with ends that stick out.

            Not sure what can be done for making it easier to move a king mattress up the stairs. Change to a one story home? Make the stairs wider and less steep? (Ever seen spiral stairs in a medieval church? Stone, very narrow, and very, very steep. Trip on those and you could all too easily break your neck.) Can a mattress be made in such a way it can be disassembled for transport, without ruining its comfortableness?

            • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 13 2018, @06:14PM

              by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @06:14PM (#651915)

              My deal with the wife is: this is the last king mattress I will ever move up or down stairs - any future king mattress moving will be budgeted for professional movers, or handled by the new mattress delivery people. The king mattress is a particularly ugly beast at 78x80x12, and floppy. They don't bother with handles anymore, and the typical weight is right around 100lbs. Our stairwell is a mid-level landing switchback, set in a box that is about 75" wide, so no flipping the mattress over the handrail, it won't quite squish that much. Our bedroom doorway is 79" high right at the top of the stairs, so the mattress slides in one way, not the other - big fun doing the 90 degree roll on the stairs.

              I think a lot of furniture is made just big enough to fit through a "standard" 30" door, which means that sometimes that door has to come off the hinges for some things to fit. I custom made a twin bedframe with integral headboard out of dimensional lumber and made the headboard 29" high, so it rolls in the bedroom door sideways on a skateboard. Unfortunately, 5' outside the bedroom door is a "passageway opening" with no door that is only 28" wide, so we get to do the angle turn thing to get in and out of that.

              The real key to furniture moving happiness is to not do it.

              --
              🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:36AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:36AM (#651599)

    I had issues with muscle mass loss and weakness in my leg for several years.

    I ignored it until it became clear that I needed to do something or I'd just randomly fall down unless I was completely focused on not doing so whilst walking.

    It turns out that I had a nerve impingement (due to spinal stenosis) which cut off nerve impulses to/from my right leg.

    I had bilevel lumbar laminotomy [wikipedia.org] surgery, and I could tell the difference as soon as I woke up on the recovery room post-surgery.

    I felt pins and needles in an area of my quadricep where I had no feeling before. As I've recovered/rehabbed, I'm actually adding muscle mass back to my leg.

    So, I'm living proof that such a loss of nerve signals does cause loss of muscle mass.

(1)