Essay: Leg muscles in Space

Sample Essay

In space, the leg muscles do not carry the body’s load or convention as much with the result that they deterioration[1].

This is mostly true for postural muscles such as the soleus, but all leg muscles are in one way or the other affected while arm muscles that maintain their function almost do not degenerate. The typical loss of bone and muscle with age is just about 1% per year beginning with the topmost development that occur between the ages of 24 to 30 years of age with considerable growing loss with progressing years. Astronauts in space lose about 1% of muscle every month and normally about 1.8–2% of bone throughout that same period with similar changes in the amount loss is calculated during bed rest[2].

[1] Robert Fitts. Effect of Prolonged Space Flight on Human Skeletal Muscle (Biopsy). Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. (2010). http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/Biopsy.html (Accessed July 30, 2010).