You read that right. A 2023 paper looked at how frailty is becoming a serious issue not just for people’s health, but also for the economic burden it entails.1
People who don’t exercise, or more specifically, strength train, invariably develop sarcopenia, also known as low muscle mass. This is linked to an increased risk of type II diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, chronic inflammation, falls and fractures, and the list goes on.Â
From the costs of prescription drugs to hospital care to physician care expenditures, the estimated cost of not being weak is approximately a whopping 3 billion dollars. The economic burden of low strength, which can arguably be labelled as low muscle mass, was exactly the same as that of obesity!
Papers often look at hand grip strength as it’s often used as a reliable tool in measuring total body strength.2,3,4,5 And if you didn’t know, hand grip strength has been on a steady decline for the past two decades or so.6
The researchers found that a 10% decrease in the prevalence of low handgrip strength would save about $546 million per year, which is an 18.2% reduction!!
Not only that! A lower handgrip strength was also associated with an increased risk in adverse health outcomes between 6% (breast cancer) and 113% (heart failure) among adults compared to those with a higher grip strength. Moreover, another value attributed 2.3% (breast cancer) to 30.4% (heart failure) of the health outcomes to low hand grip strength in women specifically.
The take away from all of this? Strength training is essential. Not just now or for the time being, but for throughout life. If you want to stay fit, lower your risk for a number of health concerns, and help lower the burden on our health system, then staying active is the key.Â
A good place to start would be to try to get in at least 2 exercise sessions a week with a good amount of emphasis on strength training, but of course, aerobic exercise is always encouraged as well. Working the entire body, and progressing the exercises as you get stronger and more comfortable is a surefire way to reap the health benefits of working out.
​​About Us and How We Can Help
Not sure where to start? Not sure what exercises you should be doing? Not sure how to plan your workouts? Don’t worry, our goal at Delta Kinesiology is to help women reach their health and fitness goals. We specialise in working with women, regardless of their current abilities, to help them get stronger, build muscle, feel better, and live their best lives.Â
Check out some of the ways we can help below!
References
Chaput, J. P., Janssen, I., Sampasa-Kanyinga, H., Tomkinson, G. R., & Lang, J. J. (2023). Economic burden of low muscle strength in Canadian adults. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme, 48(8), 634–638. https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2022-0371
Bohannon, R. W., Magasi, S. R., Bubela, D. J., Wang, Y. C., & Gershon, R. C. (2012). Grip and knee extension muscle strength reflect a common construct among adults. Muscle & nerve, 46(4), 555–558. https://doi.org/10.1002/mus.23350
Soysal, P., Hurst, C., Demurtas, J., Firth, J., Howden, R., Yang, L., Tully, M. A., Koyanagi, A., Ilie, P. C., López-Sánchez, G. F., Schwingshackl, L., Veronese, N., & Smith, L. (2021). Handgrip strength and health outcomes: Umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies. Journal of sport and health science, 10(3), 290–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.06.009
Lee J. (2020). Associations Between Handgrip Strength and Disease-Specific Mortality Including Cancer, Cardiovascular, and Respiratory Diseases in Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of aging and physical activity, 28(2), 320–331. https://doi.org/10.1123/japa.2018-0348
Carbone, S., Kirkman, D. L., Garten, R. S., Rodriguez-Miguelez, P., Artero, E. G., Lee, D. C., & Lavie, C. J. (2020). Muscular Strength and Cardiovascular Disease: AN UPDATED STATE-OF-THE-ART NARRATIVE REVIEW. Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and prevention, 40(5), 302–309. https://doi.org/10.1097/HCR.0000000000000525
Dufner, T. J., Fitzgerald, J. S., Lang, J. J., & Tomkinson, G. R. (2020). Temporal Trends in the Handgrip Strength of 2,592,714 Adults from 14 Countries Between 1960 and 2017: A Systematic Analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 50(12), 2175–2191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01339-z
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