And it may be spurred by arthritis or degenerative disc disease, and accentuated by poor posture, declining muscle strength, stress, and even a lack of sleep, said Dr. Zacharia Isaac, medical director of the Comprehensive Spine Care Center at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital and director of interventional physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.
Apart from overt changes, such as declining muscle strength, extensive metabolic alterations also occur with aging, one of the most prominent being impaired glucose tolerance [2].
As well as indicating the presence of an illness or illnesses sufficiently serious to require hospital admission, hospitalisation in older people is associated frequently with complications such as delirium, declining muscle strength and respiratory function, and is often followed by functional decline [ 30].
The pathophysiologic mechanisms and the histological and biochemical changes differ greatly between these different etiologies, however fatty infiltration and the consequent decrease of muscle cross sectional area results in declined muscle strength, elasticity and range of joint motion [ 13- 15].
Patients with the condition display a significant reduction in their level of physical activity even at relatively early stages [ 2– 5], and there is evidence that physical inactivity is independently associated with dyspnoea, quality of life, lung function decline, muscle strength and endurance, the frequency of acute exacerbations and mortality in COPD [ 1, 6– 10].
BACKGROUND: Late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) is a rare cause of declining proximal muscle strength and respiratory function that can also affect other organ systems.
Muscle mass has been reported to decline 1 2% annually after age 50 years [ 14], which contributes to a decline in muscle strength [ 5, 15].
Of note, longitudinal studies of aging have shown that declines in muscle strength exceed what is expected on the basis of the decline in muscle mass alone, especially after the age of 60 70 years (15, 16).
Testosterone deficiency in adult males has been associated with declining bone mass, muscle strength, reduced energy levels and altered sexual function (Araujo et al, 2007).
Although the biggest decline in muscle strength was measured in the 54 56 year old age group, the decline was most significant in participants older than 60 years.
Moreover, the decline in muscle strength caused by the loss of muscle mass contributes to the decline in physical function, as well as increasing disability, frailty and loss of independence [ 10, 11].
