Statistical analysis
The primary endpoint of this study was quadriceps muscle strength preservation (MVIC). In order to have an 80% chance of detecting 1.5 units of differences, with α = 0.05, a sample size of 38 participants per treatment group was needed for this study. Assuming a 10% dropout rate, a total sample size of 126 subjects (42 per group) was planned.The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to assess normality. Normally distributed data were reported as mean (standard deviation [SD]). Non-normally distributed and ordinal data were reported as median (inter-quartile range [IR]), and categorical data were presented as number (percentage [%]). To study the possible relationship between categorical variables, Pearson Analysis of data was performed by intention to treat analysis. All 