The goal of a recent study published in Physiotherapy was to synthesize current evidence on the effectiveness of exercise in the treatment of sarcopenia to inform clinical practice.

In this systematic review, five electronic databases were searched, including Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE without revisions, EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Science. Studies selected were systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials evaluating exercise to treat sarcopenia in adults including sarcopenic outcomes.

Two reviews were identified which included seven studies with 619 participants. The results showed limited, low-quality evidence of positive effects of mixed and resistance training in treating sarcopenia.

Hence, it was stated that there is a lack of high-quality evidence to inform the treatment of sarcopenia with exercise. Therefore, further research is necessary, to enable the identification of effective ways of treating sarcopenia with exercise before evidence-based clinical guidelines can be established.

Source: Physiotherapy. 2019 Aug 9;107:189-201. doi: 10.1016/j.physio.2019.08.005.