Training strategy employing skin cooling for older adults

Abstract

  Muscle strength decreases with age and resistance training is an important method for preventing a decrease in muscle strength, known as sarcopenia. It has been reported that the contribution of neural adaptation and muscle hypertrophy after training is different between younger and older adults, and neural adaptation plays a greater role in the increase of muscle strength in older adults. Fall prevention is another important reason why understanding muscle characteristics, including neural factors, is necessary when considering training methods for older adults. Instantaneous muscle activity, which can be evaluated by the rate of force development (RFD), is a very important factor to consider in older adults, especially as RFD decreases with age. Although high intensity training improves RFD in older adults, it is inappropriate for this age group due to the stress it puts on the cardiorespiratory system. Therefore, a low intensity training method which has a positive effect on neural adaptation is required for older adults. It has been reported that cutaneous input, such as skin cooling, during training is an effective method for evoking neural adaptation in older adults. Some reports have suggested that resistance training with skin cooling improves muscle strength in older adults. Moreover, skin cooling increases RFD during muscle contraction in younger adults. Although further investigation about the effects of training with skin cooling is necessary to establish effective training methods, training with skin cooling has the potential for positive adaptation of neural factors in older adults.