Ibuprofen Supplementation After Resistance Training and Its Effects on Bone in Older Women

The aim of our study is to create new evidence about the effectiveness and safety of non-steroid anti-inflammatory supplementation (i.e. ibuprofen) combined with exercise to influence positively bone and muscle health in women aged 65 years and older. With aging, there is a significant decrease in bone mineral, muscle mass, and strength, which increases the risk of falls, injuries and fracture especially for women. Direct and indirect health costs associated with osteoporosis and sarcopenia (defined as "muscle wasting") are in the billions of dollars and escalating as the proportion of older adults in Canada grows. Low-grade inflammation is a main contributing factor to bone and muscle deterioration with aging but is mitigated by anti-inflammatory drug use. Recent evidence shows resistance exercise training combined with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (ibuprofen) is effective for increasing bone mineral density in young women. No study has addressed directly the effects of ibuprofen use following resistance exercise on bone and muscle in older women, the population at greatest risk of developing osteoporosis. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the safety and multiple effects of ibuprofen ingestion following supervised resistance exercise training on bone and muscle in older women (≥65y).

PRIMARY HYPOTHESES: Ibuprofen combined with resistance training will maintain hip and lumbar spine areal bone mineral density in older women. Secondary hypotheses are that bone structural properties in the hip and wrist, and muscle mass and strength will be improved by supplementing ibuprofen after resistance training sessions.

RESEARCH PLAN: The study will use a repeated measures, parallel group randomized design where 100 women (≥65 y) will be randomized to one of 4 groups: 1) Exercise and ibuprofen (400 mg immediately after exercise); 2) Exercise and ibuprofen placebo; 3) Placebo exercise and ibuprofen, 4) Placebo exercise and ibuprofen placebo. Women will participate in the exercise sessions 3 days per week. The intervention will be 9 months in duration. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) will be used to assess hip and lumbar spine areal bone mineral density, as well as geometric changes in hip structure, and whole body lean tissue (i.e. muscle) mass. Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) and high-resolution-pQCT will allow us to investigate detailed changes in bone microarchitecture at the wrist and muscle cross-sectional area in the forearm in response to the intervention. Safety will be addressed by closely monitoring adverse events.

RELEVANCE: This pilot study potentially drives a novel post-market use of ibuprofen. In addition, it permits our developing research team a foray into preliminary data collection to inform a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT) application to CIHR.