London - Lazy teenagers who shun walking for the taxi of mum and dad could be doing themselves more harm than they realise.
Young people immobilised for just two weeks lost a third of their muscle strength and had the same walking ability of someone 50 years older, a study found.
It takes three times as long to rebuild the same strength as the time spent inactive, researchers said. The findings could have important implications for those left bedridden or unable to walk due to an accident or injury.
The study by a team at Copenhagen University’s Centre for Healthy Ageing and Department of Biomedical Sciences involved healthy people immobilised by a pad attached to their leg.
Researcher Dr Andreas Vigelsoe said: “Our experiments reveal that inactivity affects the muscular strength in young and older men equally. Having had one leg immobilised for two weeks, young people lose up to a third of their muscular strength, while older people lose approximately one quarter.
“A young man who is immobilised for two weeks loses muscular strength in his leg equivalent to ageing by 40 or 50 years.”
But the results, published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, also showed the young lost twice as much muscle mass as elderly counterparts.
Dr Martin Gram said: “The more muscle mass you have, the more you’ll lose … if you’re fit and become injured, you’ll most likely lose more muscle mass than someone who is unfit … [But] it is likely to have a greater impact on [older people’s] general health and quality of life.”
Dr Vigelsoe added: “If you want to regain your muscular strength you need to include weight training.”
Daily Mail