🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Sarcopenia course.
What Sarcopenia Is
Age-related muscle mass + strength + function loss. Accelerates after 60.
Learn ItWhy Training Matters
Resistance exercise is the single most effective intervention. Bar none.
Learn ItRed Flags
Fall with possible fracture · sudden severe weakness · rapid weight loss.
Learn ItTriggers for Acceleration
Hospitalization, illness, surgery, depression, low protein intake.
Learn ItDiagnosis
Grip strength, walking speed, DEXA body composition, sometimes muscle ultrasound.
Learn ItResistance Training
2-3x/week, all major muscle groups. Supervised PT helpful.
Live ItProtein Intake
1.0-1.2 g/kg/day (higher in some). Spread across meals.
Live ItVitamin D + Calcium
Bone-muscle axis is real. Check levels.
Live ItWalking + Balance
Daily walking + balance work (tai chi, yoga). Pairs with resistance.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring grip-strength and walking-speed trends if measured.
Live ItYour Care Team
PCP or geriatrician, PT, dietitian, sometimes endocrinology.
Live ItActivity Trackers
Steps, exercise minutes — feedback that drives habit.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
PT often covered. SilverSneakers and similar programs covered by Medicare.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Sarcopenia is hidden but reversible. Spread the strength-training message.
Share ItAdvocate
Push for sarcopenia screening in primary care.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Myostatin inhibitors, optimized protein protocols, novel exercise modes.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Sarcopenia is a slow trend. The ladder mostly tracks worsening function or downstream falls.
Handle at home
- Same strength and walking speed as your baseline
- Following resistance training
- Eating adequate protein
Log it. Train consistently. Eat enough.
Call the office / message the portal
- Noticeable strength decline over weeks
- Walking slower than usual
- Unintentional weight loss
- New fatigue without illness
Same day. Sarcopenia can be accelerated by hidden issues.
Urgent / Acute care
- Falls increasing
- Inability to climb stairs you used to
- Significant unintentional weight loss
- Loss of grip strength noticeable
Urgent care or geriatric assessment.
ER NOW / call 911
- A fall with injury — severe pain, can’t bear weight
- Head injury during fall
- Sudden loss of mobility
- Severe weakness with chest pain or stroke signs
Call 911. Falls in sarcopenia patients often mean fractures.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“My grip and stair climbing got noticeably worse this month, a 5, started after I had the flu and lost 8 pounds, exercise feels harder, eating more protein helps a little, and my sleep has been disrupted.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Sarcopenia:
- “What’s my muscle mass on body composition testing — trended over time?”
- “Am I getting enough protein (1.0-1.2 g/kg/day) for my age?”
- “What resistance training program is right for me — supervised PT?”
- “Could my muscle loss be from hidden causes — thyroid, vitamin D, testosterone, GI absorption?”
- “Falls prevention — what’s my fall risk assessment?”