Blood Flow Restriction Therapy

Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) is a type of therapy that involves the application of a special cuff that inflates and partially restricts the blood flow into and out of your arm or leg. Exercise is then performed with lighter weights using specific parameters prescribed by your therapist to help with muscle growth and endurance.

BFR is an adjunct to exercise therapy that helps a muscle get stronger without using heavy weights or high-intensity exercises. This is beneficial to a patient rehabbing after an injury or surgery because patients often experience muscle stiffness or atrophy due to low activity level.

How Does Blood Flow Restriction Work?

By partially restricting blood flow of an extremity, BFR training helps utilize Type I muscle fibers. These muscle fibers are the larger and more powerful muscle fibers, and they usually can only be stimulated by high-intensity exercise. However, BFR works on a cellular level to increase growth hormone release and help increase the activation of these muscle fibers with lighter loads, which is beneficial for patients with injuries or after surgery who are unable to perform high-intensity exercise. This enables our patients to maintain or even increase muscle size and strength during the rehab process.

Is BFR Safe?

In general, blood flow restriction training is as safe or safer than high-intensity exercise. Your body reacts to BFR similarly to how it would to high-intensity training. You should not use BFR if you have:

• Severe, untreated hypertension
• A blood clotting disorder
• Sickle cell anemia
• Lymphedema

Your physical therapist at Northwest Sports and Ortho will thoroughly evaluate you to make sure it is safe for you to use BFR training. BFR training should only be performed under the supervision of a trained clinician.

Who Should Use BRF Therapy?

BFR therapy is a valuable tool to use after common surgeries like knee scopes, ACL reconstruction, joint replacement and shoulder surgeries. It can also be beneficial after any knee, ankle, shoulder or elbow injuries as well. Your therapist at Northwest Sports and Ortho will use Blood Flow Restriction along with other exercises, manual therapy techniques and modalities to help you recover and reclaim your game!