| [ Summary ] |
Elderly people often fall and suffer fractures due to deterioration of their musculoskeletal systems such as muscle weakness or osteoporosis. In addition, when disuse changes of their musculoskeletal system occur due to a decrease in activity as they age, the deterioration of the musculoskeletal system accelerates, and the risk of falls and fractures will increase. Similarly, there is pronounced disuse atrophy of the musculoskeletal system in astronauts due to zero gravity, and countermeasures for this is considered to be an important issue in the field of space medicine. We have developed the Hybrid Training System for astronauts. After multiple experiments on the ground, we performed an experiment on the International Space Station in 2014, the experiment was completed without any adverse events, and muscle mass and bone mineral density increased in the astronaut's training arm. These experimental results showed that mechanical stress on the musculoskeletal system is essential for maintenance and improvement and show that mechanical stress provided by exercise is important in the prevention of falls and fractures. |