A strengthening technique in physical therapy, blood flow restriction training, is sometimes used by physical therapists to increase muscle strength following injury or surgery. This is achieved by reducing blood flow to the muscles and then performing low-level exercise so that the muscle can achieve the benefits of high-level training.
This is a good option for situations where high training loads aren’t possible, such as after surgery or when there is significant muscle loss. It helps to gain strength with low-intensity exercise which can be gained through high-intensity workouts.
How to do it
These steps will help you to perform blood flow restriction training- To strengthen your muscles, wrap the cuff around them
- Then, pump the cuff until it reaches the desired pressure
- Most often, the pressure is 180mm Hg or multiplied to 1.5 times your resting Systolic Pressure
- Strengthen the muscles that need to be contracted
- If you want to strengthen quadriceps muscles, then wrap the cuff around your leg and do a short Arc quad.
- This contraction should be held for five seconds
- The contraction was released
- This training can be repeated 15 to 20 more times
Conditions to be considered
It is a form of physical therapy and is used to treat muscle disorders after any injury or illness. If you have weakness in your muscles, blood flow restriction training may be able to help strengthen them.- Muscle strains and muscle sprains
- Muscle weakness
- Surgery on the hip, knee, and ankle, as well as any injury to the musculoskeletal systems where there is weakness
- Lower extremity or upper extremity surgery.
- After upper or lower extremity bone fracture
- Muscle weakness is a sign of neurological conditions
- Any condition that can cause weakness in the muscles. We can’t do high-intensity exercise to heal this weakness
