There’s a Reason You’re Not as Strong as You Used to Be

By Jennifer Footit-Tank RN BSN, quality care coordinator at Network Health
7/23/2024

The Office on Women’s Health has launched a new nationwide campaign called “Stronger than Sarcopenia” to raise awareness of this condition. Sarcopenia is a progressive age-related loss of muscle mass, function and strength.

This form of muscle atrophy is gradual and commonly affects 10 percent of women and men over age 60. Muscle loss begins after age 30 at the rate of 3-5 percent per decade. The resulting muscle weakness can reduce your physical activity. Decreased activity can result in even more muscle loss, weakness and increased risk of a fall. So how do you break the cycle?

Recognizing Sarcopenia and Its Causes

Early recognition of symptoms of muscle loss is your best defense. You may first notice an increased difficulty with completing daily activities such as carrying groceries, climbing stairs, standing from a sitting position, less stamina and not being able walk as far as you used to or a fall from poor balance. The Office on Women’s Health reports a diagnosis of sarcopenia results in a 58 percent higher risk of bone fracture and 13.8 percent higher risk of loss of independence. Sarcopenia is also a significant contributor to osteoporosis.

Causes for sarcopenia are being physically inactive and an unbalanced diet. Decrease in muscle mass begins as soon as 2-3 weeks of decreased activity. If your diet is low in protein and your calorie intake too high or too low, this will accelerate the development of sarcopenia. Some inflammatory diseases also contribute to symptoms, such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, liver disease or rheumatoid arthritis. As we age, we also produce less estrogen and testosterone which affects the muscles.

Being Diagnosed With Sarcopenia

There is no specific test for sarcopenia, but you can take the SARC-F test (which stands for strength, assistance with walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs and falls), which asks a series of questions about your difficulty with certain movements or tasks. Score each letter from zero to 2. A zero means there is no problem, a one means there is some difficulty and a two means there is always difficulty. If your total score is four or greater, discuss these symptoms with your health care provider.

S – Strength

A – Assistance with walking

R – Rising from a chair

C – Climbing stairs

F – Falls

You can also discuss with your personal doctor if you would benefit from a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scan (DEXA). This test measures bone density (strength). DEXA scan results can provide helpful details about your risk for osteoporosis (bone loss) and fractures. This is important information as it can help prevent fractures if you experience a fall.

Can Sarcopenia Be Treated?

The best treatment for sarcopenia is to keep your muscles active. Increasing your activity level by as little as two to three times per week can have positive effects. Try the following exercises which have proven to be the most effective.

Resistance training – Use resistance bands or lift weights. This link has some examples of exercises you can complete at home.

Fitness training – Exercise to raise your heartrate through aerobic or endurance training. Cycle, hike or jog for 15-45 minutes per session. Start at a time that is comfortable for you and slowly increase over the following weeks.

Walking – The goal with walking is to increase your distance by 10 percent each month.

With the increase in physical activity your muscles will require more protein. The Office on Women’s Health recommends foods such as lean meat, eggs, seafood, beans, nuts, seeds, legumes and low-fat dairy as sources of healthy proteins. An easy way to accomplish this is by trying to eat 30 grams of protein at each meal. Eating 20 almonds is about six grams of protein and one chicken breast is about 40 grams of protein.

To calculate your required amount of daily protein, use your weight in pounds, divide it by two and then multiply that number by 1.2 to get the final result. For example, if you are 200 pounds, you need 120 grams of protein per day.

In addition to diet and exercise, vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids from seafood or supplements have shown to prevent muscle loss in combination with diet and exercise.