Research
Adherence
Home-based resistance exercise is an effective and feasible intervention to maintain or improve muscle mass, strength, and functionality in older adults during periods of social isolation.
Prescribe home-based resistance exercises for all older adults during isolation. Focus on maintaining muscle mass and strength. If equipment is limited, focus on bodyweight movements and light activity. Clinicians should prescribe this 'as medicine'.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Resistance exercise emerges as a classic and proven method to increase muscle mass, strength, and functionality, even for nonagenarians. Home-based exercise programs can be invaluable during isolation, constituting a feasible strategy to maintain or even improve muscle health and functionality.
Why this rating
Cites established literature (Fiatarone et al.) but applies it to a specific context (isolation) without new primary data.
Source
Risk of Increased Physical Inactivity During <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 Outbreak in Older People: A Call for Actions
Hamilton Roschel et al. · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2020
DOI 10.1111/jgs.16550
narrative_reviewCited 170×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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