Physical exercise and sarcopenia in older people: position paper of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Medicine (OrtoMed)

Sarcopenia is the age-associated loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. It is a major clinical problem for older people and research in understanding of pathogenesis, clinical consequences, management, and socioeconomic burden of this condition is growing exponentially. The causes of sarcopenia are multifactorial, including inflammation, insulin resistance, changing endocrine function, chronic diseases, nutritional deficiencies and low levels of physical activity. Operational definition of sarcopenia combines assessment of muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance. The diagnosis of sarcopenia should be based on having a low appendicular fat free mass in combination with low …