About 300,000 elderly people in Taiwan have sarcopenia, an age-related condition that causes degenerative muscle loss, a doctor from the Spine Center at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said on Friday.
The risk of sarcopenia increases with age, with the rate of muscle deterioration increasing after the age of 70, Chiu Ping-yeh (邱炳燁) said.
Approximately 6.8 to 10 percent of Taiwanese aged 65 or older have the condition, he said.
Photo: Lin Liang-che, Taipei Times
Muscle weakness not only increases the risk of falls, but makes accidents more likely to result in elderly people fracturing bones, becoming confined to their bed or infirm, he said.
It might also lead to deterioration of the spine, which can cause back pain and poor posture in a vicious cycle that only worsens the issue, he added.
Regular exercise while young, particularly strengthening the core and leg muscles, can decrease the likelihood of later developing sarcopenia, he said.
Chiu recommended that those older than 40 take brisk walks, climb stairs or do squats, as well as ensure they have sufficient protein intake, plenty of sunlight and avoid sitting for long periods.
A 68-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) began to experience issues after a fall that caused a shin fracture, she told a news conference hosted yesterday to raise awareness.
Tseng did not regularly exercise when she was young, and began to notice as she aged that she became tired while walking, had osteoporosis and even struggled to open bottle caps, she said.
After an operation, she began a strenuous physiotherapy course which helped her to walk with more stability, she said.
After physical therapy, she was able to go hiking and swimming with her husband every day so she could slowly build back muscle strength, she added.
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital organizes an annual Yongqing Cup Road Race to promote regular exercise and healthy lifestyles, Taipei branch director Huang Chi-jen (黃集仁) said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS