Physical exercise for primary sarcopenia: an expert opinion.
Antimo Moretti, Federica Tomaino, Marco Paoletta and 11 others
PMID 40226126WHAT IT FOUND
For older adults with primary sarcopenia, expert recommendations favour tailored resistance exercise, often combined with aerobic and balance training, to improve muscle mass, strength and physical performance.
Key findings
01Resistance exercise is recommended as a cornerstone intervention, and multimodal exercise is preferred over single-modality programs.
02A SARC-F score higher than 4 triggers strength assessment, and muscle mass measurement is required to confirm sarcopenia.
03The authors note that current guidelines recommend exercise, but the included studies did not use contemporary European and Asian sarcopenia diagnoses, limiting applicability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This is an expert opinion and review, not a new clinical trial, so it cannot show how much any single exercise programme helps. The authors state that earlier exercise guidelines were limited because their included studies did not use contemporary sarcopenia diagnostic criteria. The evidence was searched in PubMed only, and the paper does not report pooled trial results. Protocol details are synthesized from heterogeneous studies and may not apply to every older adult with sarcopenia. The paper gives recommendations rather than directly tested intervention results, so clinical decisions still need individual assessment.
Declared interests
The authors declare financial support was received. The research and/or publication was funded by the European Union Next Generation EU programme.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as a new trial proving that exercise works for sarcopenia. It is an expert opinion synthesizing existing evidence, and its protocol details are recommendations rather than tested interventions.