Any of you that have had a surgery or torn a muscle (or just been lazy for a few weeks) have likely had the experience of your muscles shrinking due to not using them (called atrophy in medical terms). Now if you’re just being lazy that’s an easy fix…..get off your butts and move around!

After a major surgery, you may have to wear a big bulky brace that completely restricts movement. Here your muscles atrophy in short order (less then 2 weeks in fact). It can be a significant challenge for us rehabbers to build muscle bulk back up because it is difficult to challenge the muscle enough to actually allow it to lay down new protein and grow.

But what if we could somehow prevent the muscle from shrinking in the first place?

A very recent (and very well done) research article was published out of McMaster University in Hamilton that sought to address this question using n-3 fatty acids (fish oils).

There has already been a fair bit of data suggesting supplementing fish oil may benefit muscles. It has been previously shown in both young and older adults that fish oil supplementation for 8 weeks can help muscles gain mass, enhance strength gains and increase rates of muscle protein synthesis.

This is all great, but it is looking at supplementing fish oils AND THEN trying to build muscle by using the muscle.

Conversely, this study looked at supplementing fish oils and looking at the effects on the muscle while completely immobilizing it?

The researchers used young women as subjects and looked at a lot of parameters including size and volume of the leg muscle via MRI, muscle strength, bloodwork and even muscle biopsies (ouch).

Half of the participants received daily sunflower oil that was flavored to taste like coconut. The other half received 20ml doses of n-3 fatty acids in a ratio of 3:2 for EPA:DHA, also flavored like coconut to mask the fish taste so they would stay blinded to what they were taking. All subjects then had one leg immobilized in a fixed angle brace at 60 degrees.

The participants wore the brace for 2 weeks straight and then had all of the study variables measured (the intervention period). They then had to return to whatever their normal activities were for 2 weeks and were measured again (the recovery period).

But wait….if the study had positive results could it not be due to other dietary factors such as more protein intake? Well to nullify this variable, every participant had every meal provided, flash frozen, pre-packaged and controlled for their body mass.

What were the outcomes?

• Muscle volume and mass were FULLY RECOVERED to the pre immobilization levels in the group that received fish oils but not the control group following the 2 weeks return to habitual activity
• There was a significant decline in leg lean mass due to the immobilization in the control group but there was NO CHANGE in leg lean mass loss AT ANY POINT measured in the fish oil group!
• There was a 50% loss of leg strength in the control group but just 35% in the supplement group after the 2 weeks of immobilization. This is important to us as it’s much easier to rehab someone that’s only lost 35% strength versus 50% strength.

So what is our key take home point?

We’ve advocated for some time that fish oil is useful for muscle growth and strength as this has been previously shown. Now we are confident in the effects of fish oils for any of our surgical clients requiring significant periods of rest, or joint immobilization. Supplementing with a high quality fish oil will decrease any potential muscle loss….making our job waaaay easier!