Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Average Connective Tissue Loss

I was reading about bone strength this weekend and started wondering what the average or rate of connective tissue loss is in different situations.

People that travel in Space in zero-G environments lose 1-2% of bone mass per month.  Without exercise an Astronaut would lose 20% of muscle mass in 5-11 days.

Bed rest showed that you can lose up to 12% of muscle strength a week. 3-5 weeks and 1/2 of the normal strength may be gone.

Limb immobilization as little as 72 hours has been shown to lose 14 and 17% atrophy in type 1 and type 11 muscle fibers.

Nerve loss, such as peripheral nerve injury will lose up to 95% of muscle mass and be replaced with fat and connective tissue.

Age brings a loss of about 5% of muscle mass every 10 years if we don't exercise.

Easy to lose.  Keep moving.  Gravity is your friend.

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