Patients or post-operative clients, high load and high intensity exercises may not be clinically appropriate.
Blood Circulation Restriction (BFR) training is a strategy that integrates low strength workout with blood flow occlusion that produces similar outcomes to high intensity training. It has actually been used in the health club setting for some time however it is getting appeal in medical settings. Blood Circulation Restriction (BFR) Training [modify modify source] BFR training was initially established in the 1960's in Japan and referred to as KAATSU training.
It can be applied to either the upper or lower limb. The cuff is then inflated to a particular pressure with the aim of acquiring partial arterial and total venous occlusion. The patient is then asked to carry out resistance workouts at a low strength of 20-30% of 1 repetition max (1RM), with high repetitions per set (15-30) and short rest periods in between sets (30 seconds) Understanding the Physiology of Muscle Hypertrophy. [modify edit source] Muscle hypertrophy is the boost in size of the muscle as well as an increase of the protein content within the fibers.
Muscle tension and metabolic tension are the two primary elements responsible for muscle hypertrophy. The activation of myogenic stem cells and the elevated anabolic hormones result in protein metabolic process and as such muscle hypertrophy can happen.
Development hormonal agent itself does not directly trigger muscle hypertrophy however it aids muscle recovery and therefore potentially facilitates the muscle strengthening procedure. The build-up of lactate and hydrogen ions (eg in hypoxic training) more boosts the release of development hormonal agent.
Myostatin controls and prevents cell development in muscle tissue. Resistance training results in the compression of blood vessels within the muscles being trained.
This leads to an increase in anaerobic lactic metabolism and the production of lactate. When there is blood pooling and a build-up of metabolites cell swelling happens. This swelling within the cells causes an anabolic reaction and results in muscle hypertrophy. The cell swelling may really cause mechanical stress which will then trigger the myogenic stem cells as discussed above.
The cuff is positioned proximally to the muscle being workout and low intensity exercises can then be carried out. Since the outflow of blood is limited utilizing the cuff capillary blood that has a low oxygen content gathers and there is a boost in protons and lactic acid. The same physiological adjustments to the muscle (eg release of hormonal agents, hypoxia and cell swelling) will occur throughout the BFR training and low intensity workout as would accompany high intensity exercise.
( 1) Low intensity BFR (LI-BFR) results in an increase in the water content of the muscle cells (cell swelling). It also accelerates the recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibres. It is also hypothesized that when the cuff is removed a hyperemia (excess of blood in the capillary) will form and this will trigger more cell swelling.
These boosts were comparable to gains acquired as a result of high-intensity workout without BFR A study comparing (1) high intensity, (2) low intensity, (3) high and low intensity with BFR and (4) low strength with BFR. While all 4 workout regimes produced increases in torque, muscle activations and muscle endurance over a 6 week duration - the high intensity (group 1) and BFR (groups 3 and 4) produced the best impact size and were comparable to each other.