Effects of Physical Exercise on Sarcopenia After Bariatric Surgery: Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Study

Bariatric surgery is the treatment of severe obesity with associated pathologies, with proven evidence in its benefits. Treating overweight allows a better and even reversal of pathologies associated with obesity. In this context, we know that physical exercise is important in the process of weight loss, however, and especially in bariatric surgery, the characteristics of physical activity are not consensual, as well as the effect of programs and physical exercise in this population. Weight loss associated with bariatric surgery is greatly associated with a significant reduction of skeletal muscle and bone mineral mass, which leads us to induce that after bariatric surgery, patients incur an increased risk of sarcopenia. The need for prophylactic programs that prevent sarcopenia in bariatric surgery patients seems to be one of the crucial points for the framing of long-term surgical success of bariatric and metabolic surgery. This randomized clinical trial will aim to study the effects of a 16-week supervised exercise intervention program on the prevention of sarcopenia after bariatric surgery This randomized controlled trial study will include 60 patients of both sexes on the waiting list for bariatric surgery and who have subsequently performed the surgery. They will be randomized into 2 groups, experimental and control. The intervention will take place 1 month after surgery, for a total of 16 weeks. Parameters of body composition, metabolic risk, quality of life, physical activity, and sedentary behavior will be determined.

Assessments will take place in five moments, the surgery, the intervention, the post-intervention, six months after the intervention, twelve months after the intervention.