Simple resistance training may help counteract age-related nerve deterioration that puts seniors at risk of injuries from falls and other accidents, according to cross-institutional research led by postdoctoral researcher and Department of Exercise Science Professor .

The nerves that control our muscles naturally degrade and become slower as we age, a process referred to as denervation. This degradation is especially problematic in sedentary individuals. Counteracting this deterioration with exercise could help seniors enjoy greater independence and improve their quality of life.

鈥淔or people in their 70s and 80s, it鈥檚 about preserving what you have,鈥� says Shields, who is working in the at the . 鈥淭he aging process is going to happen no matter what, but can we slow it down.鈥�

The study was in , the leading multidisciplinary research journal for the and one of the flagship journals within the fields of sports medicine and exercise physiology.

鈥淩esearch on the adaptations to resistance training has historically been focused on muscle and bone, with very little known regarding the adaptability of the nerves,鈥� Editor-in-Chief Andrew Jones wrote in MSSE鈥檚 current issue. 鈥淏ecause nerve health and function deteriorate with both age and prolonged sedentary lifestyles, it is important to know if resistance training is an effective countermeasure to combat this degradation.”

鈥淪hields and colleagues show that nerve function in older adults is trainable, which may also have long-term implications for nerve health, motor function, independence and quality of life,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭his work could stimulate investigations into whether resistance training is an effective countermeasure for other, non-age related sources of nerve degradation (for example, nervous system disorders).鈥�

For their study, the researchers sought to determine the effects of resistance training on nerve conduction velocity (NCV), and if changes in NCV are dependent on age. Testing 48 subjects ranging from 18 to 84 years old, the researchers recorded NCV in the forearm and maximal strength before and after four weeks of handgrip training in both arms (training was conducted three times a week).

To measure each subject鈥檚 NCV, the researchers used nerve conduction tests that stimulated the nerves in the muscles of the forearm and measured how fast it took to activate the muscle.

In the post-training tests, every senior that performed the training showed improvement in their nerve conduction. A nerve contains both fast and slow motor neurons, and the fast neurons are the first to deteriorate, disconnect from muscle and become inactive with age. The researchers hypothesize that the training reactivated these fast neurons in the older participants, a process called reinnervation.

鈥淲hen you lose fast neurons, you also lose the fast muscle fibers that are activated by them, and then your power, or the speed at which you can produce force, decreases,鈥� says DeFreitas, chair of the and the at Falk College. 鈥淚f you can reactivate those lost neurons, you can produce force faster again and that has practical implications so that a slip or a trip doesn鈥檛 become a terrible fall.鈥�

The research team plans to conduct further studies to determine the role that exercise interventions play in mitigating age-related nerve deterioration, and if the reactivation of fast neurons translates to other parts of the body.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e reactivating those neurons that started to die, that can play a significant role in the preservation of strength and avoiding disability with aging,鈥� DeFreitas says. 鈥淭hat to me is the likely hypothesis, so that鈥檚 the premise of the follow-up work we鈥檙e conducting.鈥�

In addition to Shields and DeFreitas, the research team included , graduate research assistant at Falk College; Shawn Reese, assistant professor of exercise science at ; , assistant professor of kinesiology and recreation at Illinois State University; and , a master鈥檚 student at Oklahoma State University.

This project was funded in part by a doctoral research grant awarded through the of the American College of Sports Medicine.

The earliest memories聽 has involve playing sports and watching the golden age of Big East Conference basketball with stars like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and 性视界 University star Pearl Washington.

Now, as a father of two children who play youth sports, Tainsky says the 鈥渁nchor events鈥� in their household revolve around his children鈥檚 games and practices, and the sports they watch together on TV. Tainsky built his research career around the idea that sports bring people together, and that鈥檚 the focus and sensibility he鈥檚 bringing to the as its new senior associate dean of faculty affairs and academic operations.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the same feeling I hope to experience very shortly at the (JMA Wireless) Dome,鈥� Tainsky says. 鈥淏eing able to come together and root, root, root for the home team with the family was a salient experience for me as I grew up and became an athlete. Then, as a soon-retired athlete, it evolved from me competing to being one of the people either coaching or analyzing what鈥檚 going on for others to do their best to compete at the highest level.鈥�

Tainsky, who started at Falk College on July 1, was previously a professor of management and Director of Sport and Entertainment Management at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he was awarded Mike Ilitch School of Business awards for innovative teaching and excellence in research. He鈥檚 currently editor in chief of the , the official research journal of the (NASSM) and he has co-authored over 50 journal articles, becoming a NASSM Research Fellow in 2015.

At the core of Tainsky鈥檚 research are the decisions made by high-level sports managers and how they impact both organizational performance and the collective well-being of fans.

鈥淪cott鈥檚 research interests鈥揺conomics of sports leagues and teams, player performance analytics, and corporate social responsibility in national and international sports leagues鈥揳lign perfectly with our vision for creating the nation鈥檚 premier College of Sport,鈥� says Falk College Dean Jeremy Jordan. With programs in esports, exercise science, nutrition, sport analytics and sport management, the Falk College of Sport launched July 1 as the on a high-research activity campus (R1) to focus on sport through a holistic academic lens.

We connected with Tainsky to learn more about his research and how it will impact the College of Sport.

How did you develop an interest in studying the impact of sport?

My curiosity about the world and trying to incorporate that into my daily life. Being able to better the community that I鈥檓 a part of is ingrained by the fact that I grew up in a house where my father (Dr. Michael Tainsky) was a researcher鈥攊n his case he was trying to cure cancer and improve people鈥檚 lives that way.

Mine was much more social. As a social scientist, I have noticed the way sport can be such a valuable part of people鈥檚 lives. My first memory was watching Big East basketball, and I liked math. I try to bring those two worlds together to create the best social experiences for the greatest number of people possible.

One of the College of Sport鈥檚 areas of excellence is community sport and wellness, or as Dean Jordan also calls it, 鈥渟port for good.鈥� How does your research fit with the uplifting power of sport?

The intellectual side of that is no one has to do sport; it鈥檚 an elective part of our lives. Since so many are choosing to spend so much of our attention on this leisure activity, it鈥檚 an incredible opportunity to see what people truly value. At the same time, we can provide leadership in utilizing that to help create the most good in the community.

We鈥檙e here to help round out that part of their choice, to provide the right amount of sport, marketed and delivered in a way that鈥檚 consumable and made more efficient, where the product is better and where the athletes are more informed.

Is there a specific theme throughout your research?

If there鈥檚 a theme to my research, it鈥檚 this idea of positive externalities, and that鈥檚 a very technical term of what is being produced can produce additional good captured by others. So, for example, in that I did with (Sport Analytics Professor) , we look at how the hotel industry is impacted by college football games. It鈥檚 not like Marriot or Hilton does anything different to be able to raise their rates or increase their occupancy rates on home football games. It happens because there鈥檚 so much excitement around sport; so much interest in being a part of that experience. So, in that case, we鈥檙e looking to quantify the externalities produced by football games.

There are other ways this presents in terms of viewership. When I follow 性视界 basketball and 性视界 basketball is having a good year, you would think that because we only have so much leisure time and I鈥檓 watching more of the Orange, it might take away the amount I choose to watch other basketball teams. But in fact, the opposite is true. As I become more deeply connected to 性视界 basketball, I鈥檓 actually more interested in some of the rival teams we鈥檙e competing against. So, we鈥檙e looking for those externalities, quantifying those externalities, and then helping round out the experience with the understanding that those things that may be counterintuitive are in play. How do we capitalize on this knowledge to produce the most good?

What are your impressions of the Falk College of Sport and what it can become?

Falk College and 性视界 University have recognized that there are four legs of the stool, and you can鈥檛 get any balance unless all four of them are functioning and working together. You can鈥檛 create athletes and have competition at the highest level without understanding the exercise science portion and the nutrition portion of sport. You can鈥檛 produce teams and individuals functioning at their highest level without sport management and sport analytics. You can鈥檛 appreciate the whole of it unless all of those pieces are talking with one another…and there is not one other place that鈥檚 doing what鈥檚 happening right now at Falk College. It鈥檚 100 percent the reason I wanted to be a part of this project.

What drew me to Falk College was this vision of what can be if we bring together these disciplines that are often times separated and siloed. It鈥檚 such a welcome idea that I expect us to be doing incredible things quickly because of all the support I鈥檓 seeing and all of the buy-in for what we鈥檙e doing from so many different, important pieces of this puzzle.