Rial-Faigenbaum Helps Advance New Strength–Risk Continuum in Sports Medicine

Tamara Rial-Faigenbaum, Ph.D., specialist professor in the Department of Health and Physical Education, is a co-author in the British Journal of Sports Medicine editorial calling for muscular weakness to be recognized as a clinically relevant risk marker and for muscle strength to become a routine component of health care.

The article "The Strength-Risk Continuum: Reframing Muscular Weakness as a Clinically Relevant Risk Marker," argues that low muscle strength is associated with chronic health conditions, impaired physical function and premature mortality among other clinical concerns, yet strength remains overlooked in routine health care assessments.

The team of international experts from Brazil, Spain, and the U.S., propose a strength-risk continuum to be used alongside simple assessments such as handgrip dynamometry or chair-to-stand testing to help health care professionals identify low muscle strength and functional vulnerability. Rial-Faigenbaum said "our goal is to encourage a shift in health assessments so that muscular fitness is viewed as an essential marker of a person's risk for functional decline and adverse health outcomes. What doesn't get measured, doesn't get managed."

This work aligns closely with Rial-Faigenbaum's teaching and research at Monmouth University's Human Performance Lab, where students gain hands-on experience assessing components of health-related fitness such as muscle strength and examining how this data can inform exercise prescription and health outcomes across the lifespan.