Keywords: Muscle, Fat and Fat/Water Separation, MSK, bedrest, exercise countermeasure, older adults, space flight
Motivation: An increased interest in human spaceflight motivates studying musculoskeletal changes associated with unloading, and potential exercise countermeasures to address these changes.
Goal(s): To determine (1) if lower leg muscle volume and fat fraction change following 14-day head-down bedrest and (2) if an exercise countermeasure modifies these changes.
Approach: A Dixon-based approach was used to measure muscle volume and fat fraction before bedrest and three timepoints after bedrest.
Results: Muscle volume decreased and fat fraction increased immediately after bedrest and then recovered towards baseline values at subsequent timepoints (p<0.05). The exercise countermeasure did not significantly modify these changes
Impact: Lower leg muscle volume decreases and fat fraction increases after periods of unloading due to bedrest. While most muscles return to pre-bedrest levels after a month, exercise countermeasures should be further developed to moderate or eliminate this initial loss.
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