2024-10-11 04:30:00
During a 20-kilometer race for young people, in Maroilles (North), May 1, 2024. BELLOUMI/PHOTOPQR/VOIX DU NORD/MAXPPP
It is known that we lose muscle mass with age. It decreases by 3% to 8% per decade, from the age of 30, and by approximately 15% after the age of 50. This loss, called “sarcopenia”, is associated with a poorer capacity of the central nervous system to mobilize muscle mass. All this leads to a reduction in muscular strength which is called “dynapenia”, which can lead to functional limitations, apart from any neurological or muscular disease. Less well known, children can also be affected. This is pediatric dynapenia.
“The muscular strength of the quadriceps of 10-16 year olds has decreased by 25% since 1990”according to Sébastien Ratel, researcher and professor at Clermont-Auvergne University. To establish this astonishing observation, he draws on data from several studies, mentioned in an article, published in February, in l’European Journal of Applied Physiology.
He himself observed it on the ground: “I regularly measure the muscular strength of young people in my laboratory, at the quadriceps level, and, in recent years, I have noticed a drop of around 20%…”explains the researcher. “This generation appears to be just as vulnerable as older adults to the inevitable consequences of decline muscle and neuromuscular dysfunction »according to the study.
Also read the decryption | Article reserved for our subscribers Neurodevelopmental disorders in children, a public health issue
Add to your selections
The health consequences are deleterious. “The condition of the muscles is a major determinant of the state of health of individuals”recalls the Paris Institute of Myology, which wants to make muscle a “major public health issue”. A 2019 study (Henriksson et al.)conducted among 1.2 million participants, showed that muscular weakness in hand grip and knee extension during adolescence was associated with disabilities observed thirty years later.
A sedentary lifestyle is gaining ground
But the good news is that this trend can be reversed, as highlighted by the study coordinated by Sébastien Ratel and Brazilian professor Ronei Pinto. A muscle strengthening program was carried out on a dozen Brazilian children with an average age of 13, who are at risk of pediatric dynapenia. At the rate of two sessions per week for three months, the training made it possible to increase their strength level by 16%, and therefore to combat this phenomenon.
Also read the column | Article reserved for our subscribers “Let’s launch a national “muscle plan”, a legacy of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games”
Add to your selections
The American researcher Avery Faigenbaum also warned, in 2022, on the few activities of this type practiced by young people. “The ideal is to combine aerobic work and muscle strengthening, like bike and run [à deux, l’un fait du vélo, l’autre court, et on inverse les rôles tous les kilomètres] or to offer orienteering races in natural environments. And, for muscle strengthening, explains Sébastien Ratelit’s not about going to a weight room, but mixing push-ups, squats, pull-ups and exercises with elastics, dumbbells, etc. »
You have 25.22% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
1728887413
#children #adolescents #muscle #strengthening
