Functional training for sarcopenia in older adults: mechanisms, benefits, and clinical implications

Sarcopenia in older adults has become a prominent public health challenge that jeopardizes their health and capacity for independent living. Characterized by the decline or loss of muscle mass, strength, and physical function, this condition leads to impaired activities of daily living and diminished quality of life in affected individuals. Conventional exercise interventions yield suboptimal improvements and suffer from low patient adherence. In contrast, functional training, which is designed to align with the daily living scenarios of older adults, can enhance their muscle strength, flexibility, coordination, and other physical capacities, thereby effectively ameliorating multiple physical functions in older adults with sarcopenia. This mini review synthesizes the mechanisms, benefits, and clinical implications of functional training across various physiological and functional systems in older adults with sarcopenia, and explores future research and development directions. It aims to provide a reference for the design and implementation of personalized and long-term intervention studies in this field.