Muscles

By Ward Dean, MD Every cell in the human body is packed with tiny organelles called mitochondria (Fig. 1). Mitochondria are often referred to as...

Tart cherries have long been researched for their association with pain relief – ranging from gout and arthritis joint pain to exercise-related muscle pain....

Sodium gets a bad rap for contributing to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Now biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have discovered that sodium also plays a key role in initiating a regenerative response after severe injury. The Tufts scientists have found a way to regenerate injured spinal cord and muscle by using small molecule drugs to trigger an influx of sodium ions into injured cells.

A virus that shuttles a therapeutic gene into cells may one day help people with a range disorders, from muscular dystrophy to amyotrophic lateral...

New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has revealed that training one arm can improve strength and decrease muscle loss in the other arm...

Researchers have used a novel approach to identify a genetic variant that may contribute to the muscle pain and weakness experienced by some statin...

Traditionally, doctors and clinicians thought diseases that affect muscles or bones affected those areas specifically. For example, bone diseases only affect bones, or muscle diseases only concerned muscles. But recent evidence supports the notion that...

Some athletes may improve their performance under pressure simply by squeezing a ball or clenching their left hand before competition to activate certain parts of the brain, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

New research at the University of Essex could help athletes train to their maximum potential without putting undue pressure on their muscles. A special wireless device -- called the iSense -- has been devised which is capable of predicting and detecting the status of muscles during training and can be adapted to any sport.

Why do people become physically weaker as they age? And is there any way to slow, stop, or even reverse this process, breaking the link between increasing age and frailty?

Lean mass -- the weight of an individual's bones, muscles and organs without body fat -- appears to decline among patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. These decreases may be associated with declines in brain volume and function.

Lifting less weight more times is just as effective at building muscle as training with heavy weights, a finding by McMaster researchers that turns conventional wisdom on its head. The key to muscle gain, say the researchers, is working to the point of fatigue.