Blood Flow Restriction can help:
+ Increase muscle strength
Stimulates equal amounts of muscle hypertrophy despite using much lighter weights
+ Decreased stress on joints & tendons
Increases muscle strength while using light weights, decreases the stress on joints & tendons
+ Increase cardiovascular capacity
Increase VO2max, allowing you to run/bike/swim for longer without losing our breath
What is BFR?
Blood flow restriction training involves the application of a pneumatic tourniquet to the muscle that is being trained. The cuff is then inflated to a specific pressure with the aim of partial blood flow occlusion. This forces the muscle to work harder than without BFR, and stimulates muscle growth at weights that normally would not create muscle growth. Resistances as low as ~20% of 1 repetition max is performed with rest periods in between sets. It can be applied to both the legs and arms.
Blood flow restriction training has shown to increase growth hormone which aids in muscle recovery and facilitates the muscle growth and strengthening process. High intensity training, which blood flow restriction training mimics, has been shown to reduce a protein called myostatin which controls and inhibits cell growth in muscle tissue. Less myostatin means increased muscle hypertrophy. Since blood flow restriction training safely compresses blood vessels within the muscle being trained, this causes a hypoxic environment and a buildup of lactate. Lactate is a by-product of metabolism and exercise. This accumulation of lactate further increases the release of growth hormone leading to strength gains and muscle hypertrophy.
- Goal of blood flow restriction training is to induce strength and hypertrophy in working muscle with low resistance
- Research is showing benefits for bone healing, tendon healing, cardiovascular rehabilitation, endurance gains, performance enhancement, and pain modulation.
What you need to know
Why is this important?
Patients who are in pain often cannot tolerate traditional heavy weight lifting required for improving strength. Blood flow restriction allows for similar strength gains while performing exercise at a much lower intensity and weight.
Who is this good for?
Pre & Post Surgery (ACL, joint replacement, rotator cuff, achilles), arthritis, knee & ankle injuries, recovering athletes, and more.
How Does it Work?
A pneumatic tourniquet is applied to partially restrict blood flow to the exercising limb. This limits the amount of oxygen and nutrients supplied into the muscle, while also limiting the byproducts of exercise to be flushed out of the muscle. These effects stimulate muscles to work harder at much lower intensities of exercise than normally required to build strength. Lastly, it has been shown in the research to be very safe when performed by a licensed medical professional, even in the older adult population.
