Effects of Microcurrent Treatment With and Without Resistance Exercises
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age40-65
SponsorUniversity of Greenwich
About this trial
* Aim: to analyse the effects of microcurrent treatment alone, and combined with a resistance exercise programme, on muscle strength, body composition and physical functional capacity in middle-aged adults. * Methods
* Randomised, balanced, double-blind parallel-group between-participants design. * Participants - non-regularly trained adults (people who do not engage regularly in physical sessions), aged 40 to 65 years old. * All participants will be invited to take part in a 6-week supervised resistance training programme that will be combined with microcurrent (MC) or sham (SH) intervention. The participants who do not accept to undergo the resistance training programme will integrate a non-exercise group involving a 6-week intervention period using the microcurrent (MC) or the sham (SH) device. The devices will be provided by Arc4Health (ARC Microtech Ltd, UK; https://arcmicrotech.com/arc4health/). The device Arc4Health has regulatory approval as a Class IIa medical device in the areas of pain management and tissue repair.
The following will be analysed:
1. Microcurrent alone (MC) 2. Microcurrent with exercise (MC + RT) 3. Sham alone (SH) 4. Sham with exercise (SH + RT)
* The participants who agree to take part in the training programme will have 2 sessions a week for a period of 6 weeks. The training programme involves elastic bands and is designed to increase strength and muscle mass. * Measurements of body composition (via plethysmography BodPod), strength, functional capacity, muscular structure (via non-invasive ultrasound), and immunological blood markers will be undertaken at baseline and after the 6-week intervention period.
Eligibility criteria
Qualifiers
non-regularly trained male and female adults, aged 40 to 65 years old.
Disqualifiers
with no musculoskeletal injuries, metabolic conditions, or diseases or currently taking medications, smoking, and nutritional supplements known to affect physical performance, muscle damage or recovery processes (e.g., creatine, whey protein, and amino acids, vitamin, or mineral supplementation, etc.) within 6 weeks prior to the start of the study.
Trial design
Treatments tested in this trial
- Microcurrent treatment with resistance exercise programme
- Resistance exercise programme
- Microcurrent treatment
- No treatment
Treatment groups
40 Participants
are divided into 4 treatment groupsSponsors and collaborators
Source ClinicalTrials.gov