Combined exercise and nutrition intervention for spinal sarcopenia: A pilot study protocol

Spinal sarcopenia is a multifactorial disorder associated with the atrophy of and fatty changes to the paraspinal muscles. We previously developed the concept of spinal sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults and investigated the association between conventional sarcopenic indices and spinal sarcopenia. However, interventional studies of spinal sarcopenia are lacking. This pilot study will aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a combined exercise and nutrition intervention for treating spinal sarcopenia.

This open-label single-arm prospective study will include 35 community-dwelling older women who were diagnosed with spinal sarcopenia in our previous cohort study. The 12-week combined intervention will consist of back extensor strengthening exercise and nutritional supplementation. The primary outcome of this study will be isometric back extensor strength after the 12-week intervention. All functional and radiographic outcomes will be measured at 0, 12, and 24 weeks post-intervention. The data will be analyzed using the intention-to-treat principle.