| Description | Muscle mass decreases with age. More specifically, certain types of muscles decrease more than others, weakening our ability to generate force quickly. This loss of strength increases risks of falls and is related to many functional cognitive deficits as we age. While aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, or swimming, has many excellent health benefits, it does not make your muscles strong! Strength training does, and it is effective at any age. This presentation will discuss how muscles work, what it takes to keep them strong, and will offer some practical suggestions for inclusion into your exercise program. Dr. McQuade is an associate professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, division of Physical Therapy. He teaches courses in musculoskeletal biomechanics of exercise and critical thinking for physical therapists. He received his BS in Physical Therapy from California State University, Long Beach, his MPH from the University of Washington, and his PhD in Biomechanics and Exercise Science from the University of Iowa. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland studying upper extremity injuries in manual wheel chair users. Dr. McQuade is a recipient of a career development award from the Veterans Administration and has received grants from the National Institute of Health, and the Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine for work on joint biomechanics. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Advances in Biomechanics and Applications, as a reviewer for the Luxembourg National Research fund (FNR) for doctoral research, and is a panel member for the Orthopaedic & Rehabilitation device panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration. His international outreach has included teaching at the Catholic University of Murcia, Spain, and collaborative research with the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Chile. His research interests include clinical biomechanics related to the management and prevention of joint injury, and the role of muscle strengthening and neuromuscular training in maintaining fitness in the elderly. |
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