Table 1.

The effect of age on exercise-induced muscle damage in men

Study	Subjects	Age (years)	Exercise	Main outcomes	Effect of age on magnitude of change	Effect of age on time to recovery	Other findings
Lavender and Nosaka [45]	20 healthy males (10 young, 10 older)	19 ± 0, 71 ± 2	6 × 5 reps eccentric contractions of elbow flexors 40% maximal isometric strength	MIVC Muscle soreness CK Mb Range of motion Limb circumference	↓* ↓* ↓* ↓* ↓*  ↔	Not recovered (240-h) ↓ Not given Not given ↓ Not recovered (240-h)
Lavender and Nosaka [46]	18 healthy males (10 young, 8 older)	20 ± 2, 71 ± 4	6 × 5 reps eccentric contractions of elbow flexors 40% maximal isometric strength	MIVC Muscle soreness CK Mb Range of motion Limb circumference	↓* ↓* ↓* ↓* ↓*  ↔	Not recovered (96-h) ↓ Not recovered (96-h) Not recovered (96-h) Not recovered (96-h) Not recovered (96-h)	Repeated bout (4-wks) did not confer a protective effect for MIVC but it did for soreness and Mb
Przybyla et al. [48]	34 healthy males (17 young, 17 older)	32 ± 7, 71 ± 5	3 × 8 reps for bilateral leg press, leg curl, and leg extension 80% 1-RM. Plus 4th set to failure	Macrophage number Cytokine expression	↓ ↓	N/A N/A	At rest, older adults had higher levels of IL-1β, IL-1RA, and IL-10
Lavender and Nosaka [47]	32 healthy males (10 young, 12 middle-aged, 10 older)	20 ± 2, 48 ± 7, 71 ± 4	6 × 5 reps eccentric contractions of elbow flexors 40% maximal isometric strength	MIVC	↓*	Not recovered (120-h)	No changes in force fluctuations at any intensity (30%, 50%, 80% MIVC)
Nikolaidis et al. [49]	20 healthy males (10 young, 10 older)	22 ± 4, 67 ± 5	5 × 15 reps of back squat 75% 1-RM on a Smith machine	MIVC Muscle soreness CK Range of motion Joint position sense	↓* ↔ ↔ ↔ ↔	N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

1-RM one-repetition maximum, MIVC maximal isometric voluntary contraction, CK creatine kinase, Mb myoglobin, h hours, wks weeks, ↓ decrease, ↔ no change

*Significantly different from baseline, reps repetitions