Blood Flow Restriction

Are you recovering from an injury or surgical procedure? If so, you may be a candidate for blood flow restriction treatments.

This may seem counterintuitive – you might ask yourself, “Why would I want to restrict my blood flow? Isn’t it good for blood to circulate?”

While these are valid points, blood flow restriction treatments can actually pose several benefits, especially in athletes and/or those recovering from surgical procedures. Blood flow restriction isn’t just therapeutic – in fact, research proves it helps strengthen muscles, using significantly less loads with similar outcomes.

At Back In Motion Physical Therapy & Performance, we are happy to say that we have special equipment to help assist in personal blood flow restriction (PBFR). Treatments are usually done during exercise, using personalized compression to restrict circulation in the affected area(s). This is done in order to promote hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass) and prevent disuse atrophy (decrease in muscle mass) which we commonly use at our sports injury clinic.

The compression devices used during blood flow restriction treatments are similar to blood pressure cuffs. The pressure created by these compression devices is high enough to occlude blood flow at 50-80% within the affected muscles. Research has proven the safety of this device.

Blood flow restriction is based on a popular theory that the treatments lead to a “local hypoxic event,” meaning the tissues in the affected area will be temporarily deprived of oxygen. While this may sound intimidating, the local hypoxia actually helps in accumulating more metabolites, in order to regulate the body’s anabolic response system (also known as the way in which the body gains muscle protein) during exercise. Essentially, restricting the blood flow in the affected area helps to build more muscle protein.

With personalized blood flow restriction devices, such as the Personalized Tourniquet System (PTS) that we offer, you are actually able to safely regulate the amount of tourniquet pressure for your specific needs. According to the Owens Recovery Science website, personalized blood flow restriction comes with several benefits, including but not limited to:

If you are recovering from an injury or surgery, and you are interested in the research proven benefits of our personal blood flow restriction (PBFR) equipment, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our licensed physical therapists in Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Estero, FL are highly trained in how blood flow restriction works, and they would love to discuss how it may benefit you personally.

Blood flow restriction has been known to treat almost any upper or lower body injury, and it can also be used as a form of rehabilitation following surgery. The compression device with PBFR itself measures the amount of pressure that is recommended for the affected area, in order for the patient to successfully execute each targeted exercise and gain the desired effects.

When performing the exercises, the intended goal of blood flow restriction 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 normal required loads with the same desired benefits. This significant reduction in required load is less stress on any joint or surgical site, thus allowing strengthening to occur where traditional strengthening would not be indicated. The result is accelerated recovery time, so you can get back to living your normal life as quickly as possible.