Elderly People Physical Rehabilitation Personalization: a Prospective Comparative Study of 198 Patients with Sarcopenia

AIM. To develop a methodology for the physical rehabilitation of elderly men with sarcopenia taking into account individual characteristics and somatotype. MATERIAL AND METHODS. A comprehensive anatomical-anthropological and instrumental (bioimpedance analysis) examination of 198 men aged 61 to 75 years (68±3.27 years) suffering from sarcopenia was carried out. The patients were divided into two groups depending on the method of physical rehabilitation. The duration of the rehabilitation programs was 12 weeks. The obtained results were compared with the indices of medical and biological state of 37 elderly men without sarcopenia signs (Group III). Somatotyping of all study participants was carried out according to the classification proposed by V.M. Chernorutsky. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Normosthenic patients predominated (group I – 46%, group II – 47%, group III – 67%), astenics in groups I and II amounted to 27.5%, in group III – 25%. The number of hypersthenic in group III was 8%, that was 17% and 19% less than in groups I and II, respectively. After 12 weeks no significant differences between groups II and III in the main indices had been revealed. The body mass index of men of group I was 1.04 and 1.07 times lower than in groups II and III, respectively. The difference in carpal strength between groups I and III was 4.9±1.34 kg (15.41%; P < 0.05), while the difference in that index between groups II and III (1.88 kg or 5.9%) were reliably insignificant (P > 0.05). The complete absence of signs of disease was found in 29 patients (32.5%) in group II and in 16 patients (14.7%) in group I, thedifference between the groups being 17.9%. CONCLUSION. Sarcopenia is characteristic of hypersthenic males. Somatotyping is an accessible rapid diagnostic tool that allows us to identify groups of patients prone to sarcopenia.