What is frailty?
Frailty is a state of health which is related to the ageing process and is when our body’s systems gradually lose their in-built reserves. It affects around 10% of people over the age of 65, rising to between 25-50% of those over the age of 85. Older people living with frailty are vulnerable to sudden, dramatic changes in their physical and mental wellbeing after even minor events such as a mild infection, change in environment or medication. As a result, this can leave them weakened and at a higher risk of falls. However, frailty is not an inevitable part of ageing, as not all older people are frail. It is not a static state and can improve as well as worsen.1
What can be done to help?
Probably one of most studied factors which can have a beneficial effect on someone with frailty is exercise; specifically, resistance exercise training (RET). In fact, a recent review showed that RET could significantly improve and/or maintain muscle strength, muscle mass, gait speed and physical performance in pre-frail and frail older adults.2
Muscle mass and strength decline progressively with ageing, and this can result in poor physical function and potential losses in mobility in older adults. So, there is an increased likelihood of them becoming physically dependent. RET has been shown to stimulate increases in skeletal muscle mass and enhance strength gains in frail older adults. Analysis of data from 49 controlled trials concluded that after an average of 20.5 weeks of RET, older adults gained 1.1kg of lean body mass.3 Additionally, RET, either on its own or as part of a combined training programme, was found to improve strength gains in frail older adults more than combined exercise programmes that didn’t incorporate RET. It can also improve neurological, psychological and/or cardiovascular function, all of which are thought to contribute to skeletal muscle performance on older people.
Age is also one of the main risk factors for several chronic diseases including; cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. However, the good news is that regular performance of RET has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on reducing the risk of these chronic diseases by these proposed mechanisms 4:
- Improved body composition
- Improved body lipid profile and cardiovascular function
- Improved blood glucose and insulin sensitivity
- Improved blood pressure
- Improved physical function and mobility
- Greater oxidative capacity
- Increased muscle mass and strength
- Improved immune system function
Although the optimal intensity, duration and frequency of exercise interventions for preventing/slowing down the progression of frailty still need to be established, the recommended amount for all older adults is 30mins of aerobic exercise a day, five days a week, with an additional 2/3 sessions a week of RET and balance/flexibility activities.5,6
There is a lot of information here to take in. Want to know whether resistance training would help your situation? Then why not contact us:
info@srphysio.co.uk
appointments@srphysio.co.uk
01603-208-238
- www.bgs.org.uk/blog/fitforfrailty
- Jadczak et al., 2018 Effectiveness of exercise interventions on physical function in community-dwelling frail older people: an umbrella review of systematic reviews. JBI Database System Rev. Implement. Rep. 16, 752–775.
- Peterson et al., 2011 Influence of resistance exercise on lean body mass in aging adults: a meta-analysis. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 43, 249–258.
- Mcleod et al., 2019 Resistance Exercise Training as a Primary Countermeasure to Age-Related Chronic Disease. Front Physiol. 2019 Jun 6;10:645
- Apóstolo J, Cooke R, Bobrowicz-Campos E, et al. Effectiveness of interventions to prevent pre-frailty and frailty progression in older adults: a systematic review. JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep 2018; 16:140–232.
- Ministry of Health. Physical activity for older people (aged 65 years and older). 2018.
