If you’ve recently seen someone weightlifting with bands wrapped around their biceps, they’re probably experimenting with Blood Flow Restriction Training, or BFR.
The goal of BFR is to keep arterial blood flowing to muscles while preventing venous blood from returning. Wrapping, banding, or cuffing the leg or arm while exercising is a type of exercise known as occlusion training.
This training plan is beneficial because it can induce muscle adaptations at much lower weights. BFR is said to provide many of the same advantages as heavy lifting while avoiding muscle damage. Blood Flow Restriction Training also helps with post-workout recovery and reduces atrophy during injuries.
Would you like to learn more about the benefits of blood flow restriction at our St. Petersburg clinic? If so, give St. Pete Physical Therapy in St. Petersburg a call today!
What is blood flow restriction?
Blood flow restriction is based on the widely held belief that the therapies cause a “local hypoxic event,” in which the tissues in the affected area are briefly deprived of oxygen.
While this may appear to be a risk, local hypoxia aids in the accumulation of extra metabolites. During exercise, this process regulates the body’s anabolic response system (how the body grows muscle protein).
In essence, decreasing blood flow in the affected area promotes the formation of more muscle protein.
You can safely regulate the amount of tourniquet pressure for your specific needs with personalized blood flow restriction devices, such as the Personalized Tourniquet System (PTS) that we offer. Personalized blood flow restriction, according to the Owens Recovery Science website, has several advantages, including but not limited to:
- Increasing hypertrophy with only 30% loads
- Improving muscle endurance in 1/3 the time
- Improving muscle protein synthesis in the elderly
- Enhancing strength and hypertrophy after surgery
- Improving muscle activation
- Increasing growth hormone responses
- Diminishing atrophy and loss of strength from disuse and non-weight bearing after injuries
- Increasing strength with only 30% loads
How can this method provide pain relief?
Compression devices, similar to blood pressure cuffs, are used during blood flow restriction treatments. The pressure created by these compression devices is high enough to obstruct blood flow within the affected muscles by 50-80%. This device’s safety has been established through research.
At your initial appointment, one of our physical therapists who specializes in blood flow restriction will perform a physical examination, review of your medical history, and discuss your symptoms to determine if blood flow restriction is the best treatment option for you.
Blood flow restriction has been used to treat almost any upper or lower body ailment and is a type of post-surgery rehabilitation. The compression device itself measures the amount of pressure recommended for the affected area for the patient to complete each targeted workout and achieve the desired results.
The goal of limiting blood flow during workouts at St. Pete Physical Therapy is to exhaust the damaged area in order to activate the body’s natural healing and tissue-building processes. This will allow you to recover faster and return to your sport as soon as possible.
Muscle soreness may occur for a day or two after treatment, but this is nothing to be concerned about. “Limb fatigue” may also occur for 20-30 minutes after treatment but should disappear quickly.
What else do I need to know about blood flow restriction?
Blood flow restriction can be combined with other types of exercise such as walking, running, or resistance training. In fact, when compared to workouts that only use resistance training, exercise programs that include both BFR and low-load resistance training appear to have numerous positive effects on the muscle.
This treatment method appears to improve strength, hypertrophy (increased muscle size), muscle activity, and post-exercise muscle protein synthesis. The combination of BFR and resistance training has also been shown to increase growth hormone levels in conventional resistance training. Resistance training programs incorporating BFR and low loads (20 – 30% of 1RM) appear to increase strength.
The goal of blood flow restriction during the exercises is to tire out the affected area in order to stimulate the body’s natural healing and tissue-building processes. This process uses 30% of the normally required loads while providing the same desired results.
This significant reduction in required load means less stress on any joint, allowing for strengthening where traditional strengthening would be ineffective. As a result, your strength will be accelerated, allowing you to reach your goals faster.
Before attempting Blood Flow Restriction Training, you should consult a physician if you are pregnant, have cardiac disease, high blood pressure, or varicose veins.
Contact St. Pete Physical Therapy to get started today
If you are recovering from an injury or surgery and would like to participate in blood flow restriction training treatments, please contact St. Pete Physical Therapy in St. Petersburg right away. Our licensed physical therapists are highly trained in this treatment and would be happy to discuss how it might benefit you.
Contact our St. Petersburg clinic today to request an appointment and get started on the path toward overall functional improvement!
