Blood Flow Restriction.

Blood flow restriction is a training method where arterial flow is partially restricted and venous flow is mostly restricted in order to achieve faster muscular growth, known as hypertrophy, and strength using significantly lower training loads. This technique is done by placing an external tourniquet resembling and feeling like a blood pressure cuff on to the affected limb. The cuff is then inflated to an individual pressure, based on a percentage of that patient’s blood flow, to create an oxygen deficient environment for the tissue. This alters the body’s physiology metabolically, via the backflow of venous blood, effectively tricking the body into thinking it is being stressed at high loads.

This is a “body hack” to engage Type II muscle fibers with sub-maximal loads to get hypertrophy and strength without placing increased mechanical stress on your body. This is how and why it can be used early post-operatively and places no major stress on grafts or tissue. If used at high levels of compression, it can allow acute injuries or fragile tissue to maximally utilize nutrient rich blood in the injured area, similar to how hyperbaric or altitude treatments help heal tissue. The treatment has become very popular and highly researched recently and has been found to have multiple benefits for the patient at earlier stages of post-operative status, aging populations and athletes for their rehabilitation in as early as three weeks. Significant research has gone into specific treatment protocols, depending on the desired effect for the patient.

Populations that would benefit from this modality include:

Post-operative patients – rotator cuff, labrum, biceps repairs, Tommy John, ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, meniscus
Geriatric patients – osteoporosis, sarcopenia
Athletes – football, soccer, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, hockey, boxing, wrestling, MMA, tennis, gymnasts, dancers, golfers, runners/track.Populations that are contraindicated for using this modality include people with an active DVT, excessive muscle damage, abnormal exercise reflex, decreased nerve conduction

Blood flow restriction should be done ONLY by a medical practitioner that has completed training and has been certified to apply this modality, due to its effect on the cardiovascular system. Here at Kinematics, our professional staff has completed this training and are happy to use it as part of a complete therapy program. Many people have been using bands or unregulated versions of blood flow restriction, which is not only possibly dangerous, but is also very inefficient. Bands have been found to be practical, but can limit efficacy of the modality by up to 30% reduction in your results. At Kinematics, we use SmartCuffs, a precision instrument, to accurately measure the blood flow, so we are not just guessing – We get it right.

Blood Flow Restriction.

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