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Mechano‐therapy using high loads enhances regrowth of skeletal muscle in young, but induces muscle damage in old rats.

Older adults have an impaired ability to recover from skeletal muscle atrophy compared to young, predisposing them to loss of independence and poor quality of life. We have previously shown that mechano‐therapy in the form of cyclic, compressive loading (CCL) enhances regrowth of atrophied skeletal muscle in young adult rats, but not in old. Our preliminary data show that passive, transverse stiffness of muscles from old rats is elevated compared to young, potentially blunting the mechanical stimulus and subsequent growth response. In the current study, we hypothesized that an increased CCL load proportional to the higher tissue stiffness in old rats would enhance skeletal muscle regrowth when compared to atrophied muscles of old rats subjected to a lower load of CCL or ambulation alone.