EFFECTIVENESS OF MUSCLE ELECTROSTIMULATION IN THE TREATMENT OF SARCOPENIA IN PEOPLE OVER 50 YEARS OLD

Background: Frankel et al. (2006) showed that physical exercise contributes to slow and counteract sarcopenia process, by attenuating the rate of decline in muscle mass and strength with age. However, in elderly populations (50 years or older), there are difficulties in performing the recommended dose of physical activity and achieving a positive effect on muscle mass or strength, either due to physical limitations or low interest in performing regular physical activity (American College of Sports Medicine et al, 2009; Kemmler & Von Stengel, 2013a).
In this context, the need to investigate treatment alternatives has been raised, which generate effects similar to physical exercise on skeletal muscles and thus reduce age-related physical impairment and disability due to this process.

Purpose: Systematic review was carried out with the aim to identify the effectiveness of neuromuscular electrical stimulation as a therapeutic tool to attenuate sarcopenia in patients over 50 years old or older.

Methods: Systematic review of experimental or quasi-experimental studies. The articles of the review were identified through the PubMed, Science Direct, Science Research, Scopus and World Wide Science databases. The search strategy included the key terms or terms MeSH "electrical" AND "stimulation" AND "sarcopenia". The quality of the journals where the articles of this review were published were evaluated according to Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR).

Results: Five experimental studies were included in this review. After the systematic analysis, it was obtained that the therapeutic intervention with neuromuscular electrical stimulation generates positive effects on muscle morphology, muscle mass and function, synthesis rates of skeletal muscle proteins and performance in functional tests in older adults.

Conclusion(s): Electrical muscle stimulation is effective in attenuating sarcopenia in adults over 50 who do not perform physical activity either due to physical impediments or lack of interest. It is necessary to continue investigating the effects of muscle electrical stimulation in this population to provide a greater background of the positive effects on aging muscle tissue.

Implications: This research shows us that electrical muscle stimulation generates effects similar to physical activity in the skeletal muscle, at the level of protein synthesis, morphology muscle, muscle mass, muscle strength and performance improvement in adults older, in functional tests, being able to replace the physical activity. Therefore, muscle electrostimulation can be considered a effective tool to attenuate sarcopenia in adults over 50 years.

Funding, acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.

Keywords: electrical muscle stimulation, sarcopenia

Topic: Electrophysical & isothermal agents

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Institution: Universidad de Valparaíso

Committee: Scientific Ethics Committee of Universidad de Valparaíso

Reason: Ethics approval was not required because this work was a systematic review.