Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Gu_bP7t1WyA Muscular development during our younger years provides the building blocks for strength maintenance as we age.  This the conclusion of a literature review from UMass-Amherst.   Biology professor Lawrence Schwartz reminds us that, during the first decades of our lives, our muscles not only grow in size but generate more and more cell nuclei, the local brains of our cells and tissues.  Muscles are syncytial tissues with many nuclei but fewer blended cell bodies.   During our younger days, we trigger desirable muscle nuclear proliferation with exercise and training.  As we age, we may lose muscle bulk, muscle cell bodies, but we retain our muscle nuclei.  If we have enough of these so-called myonuclei banked, we can then maintain and redevelop muscle mass with exercise and conditioning thereby preventing elder weakening and frailty. The bottom line: childhood, adolescent, and young adult physical activities are critical for “charging our muscle batteries” to insure a long an