Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Elderly/Masters Athlete (Overview)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sideline Management in Sports

  • 222 Accesses

Abstract

An increasing life expectancy has impacted our lives positively, but, at the same time, it has become a challenge to live longer, physically and mentally healthy. This biological event has triggered elderly athletes to make their athletic careers longer. In addition, it has also played an essential role in stimulating the elderly to practice sports. A clear sign is that the number of master competitions has grown exponentially in the last decades, as well as the increasing interest of sponsors and participants independently of the modality of practiced sport. In sports, aging may affect individuals in three different scenarios: the elderly and sedentary adults who have become regular sports practitioners or even real athletes, athletes who are getting older, and master athletes. The chapter aims to discuss metabolic and physiological changes of aging, potential red flags in elderly athletes, predisposing injury risk in the elderly athlete, main clinical complaints of elderly athletes, and managing the harmful effects of aging.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. DiLoreto R, Murphy CT. The cell biology of aging. Mol Biol Cell. 2015;26:4524–31.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Piedade SR, Inada MM, Laurito GM, Navarro e Paiva D, Fraga GP, Pagnano RG, de Andrade AL, Cardoso TP. Physical activity at adulthood and old age BT. In: Rocha Piedade S, Imhoff AB, Clatworthy M, Cohen M, Espregueira-Mendes J, editors. The sports medicine physician. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2019. p. 59–69.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Faulkner JA, Larkin LM, Claflin DR, Brooks SV. Age-related changes in the structure and function of skeletal muscles. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2007;34:1091–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Campbell MJ, McComas AJ, Petito F. Physiological changes in ageing muscles. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1973;36:174–82.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Aburto JM, Villavicencio F, Basellini U, Kjærgaard S, Vaupel JW. Dynamics of life expectancy and life span equality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020;117:5250–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Goodpaster BH, Park SW, Harris TB, Kritchevsky SB, Nevitt M, Schwartz AV, Simonsick EM, Tylavsky FA, Visser M, Newman AB. The loss of skeletal muscle strength, mass, and quality in older adults: the health, aging and body composition study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006;61:1059–64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Stenner BJ, Buckley JD, Mosewich AD. Reasons why older adults play sport: a systematic review. J Sport Heal Sci. 2020;9:530–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cunningham C, O'Sullivan R, Caserotti P, Tully MA. Consequences of physical inactivity in older adults: a systematic review of reviews and meta-analyses. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2020;30:816–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Jenkin CR, Eime RM, Westerbeek H, O'Sullivan G, van Uffelen JGZ. Sport and ageing: a systematic review of the determinants and trends of participation in sport for older adults. BMC Public Health. 2017;17:976.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Kehler DS, Theou O. The impact of physical activity and sedentary behaviors on frailty levels. Mech Ageing Dev. 2019;180:29–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. McPhee JS, French DP, Jackson D, Nazroo J, Pendleton N, Degens H. Physical activity in older age: perspectives for healthy ageing and frailty. Biogerontology. 2016;17:567–80.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Warburton DER, Nicol CW, Bredin SSD. Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. CMAJ. 2006;174:801–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Englund DA, Zhang X, Aversa Z, LeBrasseur NK. Skeletal muscle aging, cellular senescence, and senotherapeutics: current knowledge and future directions. Mech Ageing Dev. 2021;200:111595.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Janssen I, Heymsfield SB, Wang ZM, Ross R. Skeletal muscle mass and distribution in 468 men and women aged 18–88 yr. J Appl Physiol. 2000;89:81–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Trappe S. Master athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2001;11(Suppl. 1):S196–207.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Tanaka H, Tarumi T, Rittweger J. Aging and physiological lessons from master athletes. Compr Physiol. 2019;10:261–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Stones MJ, Kozma A. Adult age trends in athletic performances. Exp Aging Res. 1981;7:269–80.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Stones MJ. Age differences, age changes, and generalizability in marathon running by master athletes. Front Psychol. 2019;10:2161.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Baker J, Horton S, Weir P. The masters athlete: understanding the role of sport and exercise in optimizing aging. New York: Routledge; 2009. p. 1–204.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  20. Loudon JK. The master female triathlete. Phys Ther Sport Off J Assoc Chart Physiother Sport Med. 2016;22:123–8.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Lazarus NR, Harridge SDR. Declining performance of master athletes: silhouettes of the trajectory of healthy human ageing? J Physiol. 2017;595:2941–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Delbono O. Neural control of aging skeletal muscle. Aging Cell. 2003;2:21–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Keller K, Engelhardt M. Strength and muscle mass loss with aging process. Age and strength loss. Muscles Ligaments Tendons J. 2013;3:346–50.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Siddiqui A, Desai NG, Sharma SB, Aslam M, Sinha UK, Madhu SV. Association of oxidative stress and inflammatory markers with chronic stress in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2019;35:e3147.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Khansari N, Shakiba Y, Mahmoudi M. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress as a major cause of age-related diseases and cancer. Recent Patents Inflamm Allergy Drug Discov. 2009;3:73–80.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Fulop T, Larbi A, Dupuis G, Le Page A, Frost EH, Cohen AA, Witkowski JM, Franceschi C. Immunosenescence and inflamm-aging as two sides of the same coin: friends or foes? Front Immunol. 2017;8:1960.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Sogaard I, Ni R. Mediating age-related cognitive decline through lifestyle activities: a brief review of the effects of physical exercise and sports-playing on older adult cognition. Acta Psychopathol. 2018; https://doi.org/10.4172/2469-6676.100178.

  28. Craft S, Watson GS. Insulin and neurodegenerative disease: shared and specific mechanisms. Lancet Neurol. 2004;3:169–78.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Magnani JW, Wang N, Benjamin EJ, et al. Atrial fibrillation and declining physical performance in older adults: the health, aging, and body composition study. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2016;9:e003525.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Hollenberg M, Yang J, Haight TJ, Tager IB. Longitudinal changes in aerobic capacity: implications for concepts of aging. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006;61:851–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Vermeulen A. Ageing, hormones, body composition, metabolic effects. World J Urol. 2002;20:23–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Ferrucci L, Penninx BWJH, Volpato S, Harris TB, Bandeen-Roche K, Balfour J, Leveille SG, Fried LP, Md JMG. Change in muscle strength explains accelerated decline of physical function in older women with high interleukin-6 serum levels. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2002;50:1947–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Zoico E, Roubenoff R. The role of cytokines in regulating protein metabolism and muscle function. Nutr Rev. 2002;60:39–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Skelton DA, Kennedy J, Rutherford OM. Explosive power and asymmetry in leg muscle function in frequent fallers and non-fallers aged over 65. Age Ageing. 2002;31:119–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Polyzos SA, Margioris AN. Sarcopenic obesity. Hormones. 2018;17:321–31.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Barazzoni R, Bischoff S, Boirie Y, Busetto L, Cederholm T, Dicker D, Toplak H, Van Gossum A, Yumuk V, Vettor R. Sarcopenic obesity: time to meet the challenge. Obes Facts. 2018;11:294–305.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Batsis JA, Villareal DT. Sarcopenic obesity in older adults: aetiology, epidemiology and treatment strategies. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2018;14:513–37.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. Choi KM. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. Korean J Intern Med. 2016;31:1054–60.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Rowan SL, Rygiel K, Purves-Smith FM, Solbak NM, Turnbull DM, Hepple RT. Denervation causes fiber atrophy and myosin heavy chain co-expression in senescent skeletal muscle. PLoS One. 2012;7:e29082.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Edström E, Altun M, Bergman E, Johnson H, Kullberg S, Ramírez-León V, Ulfhake B. Factors contributing to neuromuscular impairment and sarcopenia during aging. Physiol Behav. 2007;92:129–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Stanworth RD, Jones TH. Testosterone for the aging male; current evidence and recommended practice. Clin Interv Aging. 2008;3:25–44.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Craig BW, Brown R, Everhart J. Effects of progressive resistance training on growth hormone and testosterone levels in young and elderly subjects. Mech Ageing Dev. 1989;49:159–69.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Veldhuis JD. Aging and hormones of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis: gonadotropic axis in men and somatotropic axes in men and women. Ageing Res Rev. 2008;7:189–208.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Kraemer WJ, Gordon SE, Fleck SJ, Marchitelli LJ, Mello R, Dziados JE, Friedl K, Harman E, Maresh C, Fry AC. Endogenous anabolic hormonal and growth factor responses to heavy resistance exercise in males and females. Int J Sports Med. 1991;12:228–35.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Rudman D. Growth hormone, body composition, and aging. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1985;33:800–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Cleasby ME, Jamieson PM, Atherton PJ. Insulin resistance and sarcopenia: mechanistic links between common co-morbidities. J Endocrinol. 2016;229:R67–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Ryan AS. Insulin resistance with aging: effects of diet and exercise. Sports Med. 2000;30:327–46.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Corpas E, Harman SM, Blackman MR. Human growth hormone and human aging. Endocr Rev. 1993;14:20–39.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Moorman AJ, Dean LS, Yang E, Drezner JA. Cardiovascular risk assessment in the older athlete. Sports Health. 2021;13:622–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  50. Palmefors H, DuttaRoy S, Rundqvist B, Börjesson M. The effect of physical activity or exercise on key biomarkers in atherosclerosis—a systematic review. Atherosclerosis. 2014;235:150–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Bergström G, Persson M, Adiels M, et al. Prevalence of subclinical coronary artery atherosclerosis in the general population. Circulation. 2021;144:916–29.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Deligiannis A, Kouidi E. Sudden cardiac death in sports: could we save Pheidippides? Acta Cardiol. 2021;76:945–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Stern S. State of the art in stress testing and ischaemia monitoring. Card Electrophysiol Rev. 2002;6:204–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Newman W, Parry-Williams G, Wiles J, Edwards J, Hulbert S, Kipourou K, Papadakis M, Sharma R, O’Driscoll J. Risk of atrial fibrillation in athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2021;55:1233–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Wilhelm M. Atrial fibrillation in endurance athletes. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2014;21:1040–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Drca N, Wolk A, Jensen-Urstad M, Larsson SC. Atrial fibrillation is associated with different levels of physical activity levels at different ages in men. Heart. 2014;100:1037–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Flannery MD, Kalman JM, Sanders P, La Gerche A. State of the art review: atrial fibrillation in athletes. Heart Lung Circ. 2017;26:983–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Gomes, TL, Viana LO, Ferreira DM, Inada MM, Laurito GM, Piedade SR. The Aging Athlete: Influence of Age on Injury Risk and Rehabilitation. In: Canata GL, D’Hooghe P, Hunt KJ, Kerkhoffs G, Longo UG (eds) Management of track and field injuries. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60216-1_31.

  59. Piedade SR, Viana LO, Arruda BPL. Age and running: children and adolescents, elder people. In: The running athlete: a comprehensive overview of running in different sports. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2022. p. 29–34.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  60. Piedade SR, Inada MM, Laurito GM, Navarro e Paiva D, Fraga GP, Pagnano RG, de Andrade AL, Cardoso TP. (2019). Physical Activity at Adulthood and Old Age. In: Rocha Piedade S, Imhoff A, Clatworthy M, Cohen M, Espregueira-Mendes J (eds) The Sports Medicine Physician. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10433-7_6.

  61. Svensson RB, Heinemeier KM, Couppé C, Kjaer M, Magnusson SP. Effect of aging and exercise on the tendon. J Appl Physiol. 2016;121:1237–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Maffulli N, Via AG, Oliva F. Chronic achilles tendon disorders: tendinopathy and chronic rupture. Clin Sports Med. 2015;34:607–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Touzell A. The Achilles tendon: Management of acute and chronic conditions. Aust J Gen Pract. 2020;49:715–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Fields KB, Rigby MD. Muscular calf injuries in runners. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2016;15:320–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Carmont MR, Silbernagel KG, Edge A, Mei-Dan O, Karlsson J, Maffulli N. Functional outcome of percutaneous achilles repair: improvements in achilles tendon total rupture score during the first year. Orthop J Sport Med. 2013;1:2325967113494584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Maffulli N, Waterston SW, Squair J, Reaper J, Douglas AS. Changing incidence of Achilles tendon rupture in Scotland: a 15-year study. Clin J Sport Med Off J Can Acad Sport Med. 1999;9:157–60.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  67. Kannus P, Niittymäki S, Järvinen M, Lehto M. Sports injuries in elderly athletes: a three-year prospective, controlled study. Age Ageing. 1989;18:263–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Kujala U, Orava S, Parkkari J, Kaprio J, Sarna S. Sports career-related musculoskeletal injuries: long-term health effects on former athletes. Sports Med. 2003;33:869–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  69. Randelli P, Ragone V, Menon A, et al. Upper limb injuries in athletes. ESSKA Instr Course Lect B Amsterdam. 2014;2014:211–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Fejer R, Ruhe A. What is the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems in the elderly population in developed countries? A systematic critical literature review. Chiropr Man Therap. 2012;20:31.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  71. Yamada E, Thomas DC. Common musculoskeletal diagnoses of upper and lower extremities in older patients. Mt Sinai J Med. 2011;78:546–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exercise and Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedics, Rheumatology, and Traumatology, University of Campinas—UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Sérgio Rocha Piedade

  2. Knee Surgery Group from Servidor Público Estadual and Albert Einstein Hospitals, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Rogerio Carvalho Teixeira

  3. Department of Radiology, University of Campinas—UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Leonardo Augusto de Souza Beck & Daniel Miranda Ferreira

  4. São Leopoldo Mandic, Faculty of Medicine, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Daniel Miranda Ferreira

Authors
  1. Sérgio Rocha Piedade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rogerio Carvalho Teixeira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Leonardo Augusto de Souza Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daniel Miranda Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sérgio Rocha Piedade .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Exercise and Sports Medicine Department of Orthopedics Rheumatology, and Traumatology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    Sérgio Rocha Piedade

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Elmhurst, IL, USA

    Mark R. Hutchinson

  3. Sydney Orthopaedic Research Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    David Parker

  4. FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, Espregueira-Mendes Sports Centre, Porto, Portugal

    João Espregueira-Mendes

  5. La Tour De Salvagny, France

    Philippe Neyret

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Piedade, S.R., Teixeira, R.C., de Souza Beck, L.A., Ferreira, D.M. (2023). Elderly/Masters Athlete (Overview). In: Rocha Piedade, S., Hutchinson, M.R., Parker, D., Espregueira-Mendes, J., Neyret, P. (eds) Sideline Management in Sports. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33867-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33867-0_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33866-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33867-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation