Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to estimate the efficiency of training with expanders and power trainers against changes in bone mineral density (BMD) during long-duration space missions. The same group of cosmonauts was tested in two different missions aboard the International Space Station. Resistive exercises using expanders and training equipment were done every other day as was recommended by Russian coaches. Settings of the treadmill and bicycle ergometer programs did not differ much in the missions. Preventive efficiency of resistive exercises was evaluated by the results of pre- and post-mission densitometry (Hologic Delphy) of the lumbar vertebrae (L1–L4), femoral neck, and greater trochanter. It was shown that the use of power trainers is explicitly more effective in BMD loss prevention than expanders. In light of prospective exploration missions, it is an important result that suggests that mineral density in the lower part of the skeleton could be kept under control despite prolonged exposure to microgravity through daily resistive exercises using power trainers.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to the members of the ISS crews, crew doctors, and engineering staff of the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center for their contribution to the organization of the study.
Funding
This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant no. 17-04-01826.
The surveys of cosmonauts who participated in expeditions to the ISS before 2009 were carried out within the framework of the basic topic 63.1, 65.1 of the Scientific Research Foundation of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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Statement of compliance with standards of research involving humans as subjects. All subjects signed an informed consent for participation in the experiment according to the Helsinki Declaration. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants involved in the study.
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Translated by K. Lazarev
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Kukoba, T.B., Novikov, V.E., Babich, D.R. et al. Preventive Efficiency of Resistive Exercises for the Bone System of Cosmonauts in Repeated Long-Duration Space Missions. Hum Physiol 45, 759–763 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119719070107
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119719070107