Bone, muscle, and sarcopenia

Muscle and bone are tightly coupled in both form and function across the lifespan. A better understanding of how muscle and bone interact is needed to optimize preventive and therapeutic strategies that can reduce the burden of musculoskeletal diseases, such as sarcopenia and osteoporosis. In this chapter, we begin by examining the interactions between muscle and bone from mechanical to biological levels. We then discuss the clinical significance of age-associated muscle and bone loss and provide a brief overview of techniques used to assess sarcopenia in clinical and research settings. We conclude by summarizing the pharmacologic and lifestyle-based interventions currently available, with a focus on how obesity affects sarcopenia and osteoporosis.