Muscle mass in reserve soldiers: comparison of muscle variables and body composition

• Autor(a) principal: Fagundes, Michael Hanemann
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Custódio, Paulo Roberto Nessi Carnacini, Nepomuceno, Patrik, Rusch, Maiara Helena, Pohl, Hildegard Hedwig
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde (Santa Maria)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsm.br/revistasaude/article/view/43199
• topic: Aging; Muscle esqueletal; Military personnel.; Envelhecimento; Músculo esquelético; Militares.

The aging process leads to the body’s difficulty in maintaining its homeostatic balance and this, under circumstances of functional overload, generates deficits in some body systems, which may evolve with impairment of certain functions, especially due to the loss of muscle mass. Objective: to identify if there is a relationship between physical activity and skeletal muscle mass and body composition of reserve military personnel. Methods: this is a descriptive, comparative and retrospective study, in which 33 reserve military personnel were evaluated, divided into two groups who practice physical activity and non-practitioners. The instruments used were: lifestyle questionnaire, stadiometer attached to the scale, anthropometric tape and bioimpedance equipment. From these instruments, demographic variables, waist circumference, skeletal muscle mass, body mass index, fat percentage and skeletal muscle index were obtained. Results: The average age of the study participants was 58.4 years, most of whom were engaged in physical activity and were married. About physical activity, there were no differences regarding sociodemographic data, body composition and muscle mass. Conclusion: Most of the reserve military personnel were physically active. Regarding the practice of physical activity, it is possible to conclude that there is no difference between practitioners and non-practitioners with regard to sociodemographic variables and lifestyle. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences between groups regarding muscle variables and body composition.