Laurie's Blogs.
Apr 2018
Blood Flow Restriction Training... Ever heard of it??
This past week while diving into physiotherapy blogs, I ran into the concept of blood flow restriction (BFR) training. I have to admit, it was something I had never heard of. I couldn’t imagine what they were talking about. And, why on earth would you do that?
When I dug a little deeper, I saw that it also went by the term Kaatsu, as an “exercise method developed by Dr. Yoshiaki Sato that is based on blood flow moderation exercise (or vascular occlusion moderation training) involving compression of the vasculature proximal to the exercising muscle by the Kaatsu Master device.” Essentially, when used in ‘gym’ applications, the training strategy involves the use of cuffs or wraps placed around a limb during exercise to maintain arterial inflow to the muscle while preventing venous return.
Pictures on the internet show muscle bound lads with theraband tied around a limb as they exercise. One is to then engage in resistance training at loads fractional to their 1-rep maximum (20 – 30% 1RM). Proponents cite that this training method helps to increase muscular size and strength better than conventional resistance training. Muscular power, sprint running speed and endurance might also be improved. There is even reported use of BFR while walking can actually induce muscle hypertrophy.
How tight should the cuff / band / pressure be? What I could find cited using a cuff that was that on a scale of 7 – 10 of pressure, aim for a ‘7’ of tightness. What on earth does that mean? I’m not sure, but I’d guess it would be enough to be marginally uncomfortable.
Why? Well, that is unclear. Resistance training with BFR and low loads causes greater muscle activity than conventional training with equal loads. Perhaps the BFR causes and increase in muscle fiber recruitment, thus resulting in hypertrophy. Post exercise, muscle protein synthesis, growth hormone elevation, and molecular signaling responses are all greater than comparable conventional resistance training. As such, perhaps these findings could be what drives the muscle hypertrophy.
From what I could find, there are naturally some concerns about this practice and whether or not it is safe. Current contraindications include a history of deep-vein thrombosis, pregnancy, varicose veins, high blood pressure, and cardiac disease. However, since it’s fairly new, risks associated with this type of training have not been widely researched.
Barring an unhealthy patient, from what I gather, it is being used in rehab clinics world-wide as a muscle building regimen. It works like this: wrap a band or cuff (i.e. an elastic knee or wrist wrap works well) around the upper arm(s) or upper leg(s). Then perform several high-rep sets of a given exercise using light weights and short rest periods. The BFR stimulus is very short term – minutes versus hours of training.
I was surprised to find in the research that not only were there actual papers on the topic, but there were also systematic reviews, AND in the field of rehabilitation! One systematic review stated “Compared with low-load training, low-load BFR training is more effective, tolerable and therefore a potential clinical rehabilitation tool. There is a need for the development of an individualised approach to training prescription to minimise patient risk and increase effectiveness (Hughes et al, 2017).”
How might you apply it to the dog?
Well, firstly, you will need to explain it to the owner in great depth. Secondly, you will also need to be prepared for questions from any referring veterinarian. And thirdly, only use it in clinic where YOU can monitor how the animal is doing with it. And if YOU don’t feel good about using it / trying it… then don’t!!
I’m guessing that you are like me and thinking, ‘just wrap an elastic around the dog’s limb and ask it to exercise’. Yup. I think it’s that simple. Perhaps I should try some exercises and make this topic into a Four Leg training video! Hang onto that thought and let me get busy on that! I’m still not sure about this one to be honest… but it’s intriguing don’t you think??!!
Until next time…
Cheers!
Laurie
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaatsu
https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/blood-flow-restriction-training-bfr/
Hughes L, et al. Blood flow restriction training in clinical musculoskeletal rehabilitation: a Systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2017; 51(13): 1003 – 1011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28259850
https://www.t-nation.com/training/blood-flow-restriction-training
