Osteosarcopenic obesity markers following elastic band resistance training: A randomized controlled trial

The main purpose of present study was to investigate the effects of elastic band resistance training (EBRT) on muscle quality (MQ), serum osteosarcopenic obesity (OSO) biomarkers, bone density and functional profile in women living with OSO syndrome. The eligible participants, aged 65 to 80 years, were selected by a physician. Accordingly, a total number of 63 women with OSO syndrome were recruited and assessed using a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) instrument, body mass index (BMI) > 30 kg/m², -2.5 ≤ T-score ≤ -1.0 of L1-L4, and/or total femur or femoral neck, and gait speed (10-meter walk test (10MWT)) ≤ 1 (m/s²). The 12-week supervised EBRT was designed to train all major muscle groups for 3 times per week. In the first two sessions, the participants became familiar with targeted number of repetitions (TNRs) and OMNI-resistance exercise scale (OMNI-RES) to control exercise intensity. Following an adaptation phase of 4 weeks (1 set of 12 rep) using low resistance (yellow Thera-Band), exercise intensity progressively increased by adapting the resistance of the elastic band (based on the Thera-Band® force-elongation table) from yellow to red and further to black. The participants in the control group also received telephone contacts or face-to-face interviews on a weekly basis to maintain their typical diet and activity habits. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was employed to determine the main changes (2 times×2 groups) after 12 weeks of training. Partial eta-squared (ηp²) was additionally used to determine ES in ANOVA tests. At all the stages of data analysis in this RCT, intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis was performed. The results of two-way ANOVA showed significant elevations in E2 (F = 7.881, p = 0.006, ES = 0.079), MQ (F = 4.225, p = 0.043, ES = 0.044), OSO Z-score (F = 7.091, p = 0.030, ES = 0.069), 30-s chair stand test (F = 4.599, p = 0.036, ES = 0.063) and hand grip strength (F = 6.411, p = 0.013, ES = 0.065) in the experimental group compared with those in the controls. Besides, there were no significant differences in CAF (F = 0.456, p = 0.501, ES = 0.005), CTX-I (F = 3.427, p = 0.067, ES = 0.036), adiponectin (F = 2.733, p = 0.102, ES = 0.029), sTnT (F = 3.245, p = 0.075, ES = 0.034), sclerostin (F = 2.927, p = 0.091, ES = 0.034), gait speed (10MWT) (F = 1.524, p = 0.220, ES = 0.016), 6MWT (F = 1.169, p = 0.284, ES = 0.017) and TUG (F = 1.502, p = 0.225, ES = 0.022), BMI (F = 0.354, p = 0.553, ES = 0.004), BFP (F = 2.888, p = 0.093, ES = 0.030), body mass content (BMC) (F = 0.030, p = 0.862, ES = 0.001) and BMD (F = 0.335, p = 0.564, ES = 0.004) between study groups. Taken together, the results of this study illustrated significant differences only in some OSO markers between groups after 48 h of chronic EBRT in women affected with OSO syndrome. Further research is thus recommended to design machine-based and elastic band-based training regimes at different intensities and volumes.