03/07/2022
https://www.facebook.com/286475634700889/posts/5973470396001356/
BLOOD FLOW RESTRICTION RESEARCH
The research on blood flow restriction is continuing to accelerate at a rapid, near exponential rate because it is not only EFFECTIVE at what it's supposed to do (increase muscle mass/strength with light loads in less time), but we're also learning other areas where it is looking to be extremely effective such as improving cardiovascular endurance at very low intensities (Park, 2014), producing significant post-exercise hypoalgesia (pain relief) (Hughes, 2020,2021), similar morphological tendon changes as heavy load strength training (Centner, 2019, 2021), and even preserving post-surgical bone mass following ACL reconstruction where traditional approaches have FAILED to do so (Day, 2022).
It just so happens that the indications for blood flow restriction include an inability to load heavier or the presence of significant muscle/joint pain (Rolnick, 2021) - two huge areas that perfectly align within the scope of practice of physical therapists - something that the APTA recognized in 2018.
Since 2018, hundreds of more papers have been produced that have now expanded the findings to clinical populations...all of which have been extremely well tolerated even in very at risk populations such as those with chronic kidney disease (Rolnick, 2022). In fact, multiple publications have been produced to help the clinician reduce the potential for adverse events with BFR training (Patterson, 2019; Rolnick, 2021; Nascimento, 2022).
So when someone tells you that physical therapists should not be allowed to do blood flow restriction - I ask - then who is better positioned to take on this modality to get people back to the activities they love as quickly as possible? Via