Muscle health can be defined in many ways, but muscle function, muscle mass, strength, and endurance/fatigue are all aspects that are highly important for muscle health. 

This course will focus on these aspects of muscle health using short, interactive lectures. Furthermore, since different tests are available to assess each aspect of muscle function, the course contains four practical training sessions. Furthermore, three problem-based learning (PBL) cases will cover (clinically) relevant situations of changing muscle function, where students will need to apply their knowledge to the specific problem. Lastly, a project will be performed in small groups, in which students will make a presentation, including an instruction movie, addressing a technique of choice to evaluate muscle function.

• Read and evaluate a scientific manuscript (critical reading)
• Write a scientific report (scientific writing, searching literature)
• Review and comment on a scientific report written by a peer (reviewing)
• Search for relevant information and report to a group (PBL in tutorial groups)
• Knowledge about design of experiments/testing (research methods and design)

Learning academic skills:

• Explain a technique to investigate muscle health in a clear and comprehensive way by making an instruction video

Communication:

• Evaluating the applicability (advantages and disadvantages) of various methods of determining muscle health for a given question

Making judgements:

• Apply the acquired knowledge to situations of changing muscle health, like ageing or disease

Applying knowledge and understanding:

• Understand how muscle mass and muscle metabolism are influencing muscle health in terms of strength, endurance, power, and fatigue
• Understand how these factors of muscle health can be determined (by imaging-based and functional assessments)
• Know the basic principles of imaging techniques such as MRI and MRS