Blood Flow Restriction

Blood flow restriction (BFR) is the use of a pressurized cuff placed proximally on a muscle group in order to decrease blood flow out of the muscle. The restriction of the cuff creates a hypoxic environment and increases the build up of metabolites and proteins within a muscle resulting in greater strength training gains. Training with BRF at lower intensity creates results similar to training at a higher intensity with no BFR.

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This is ideal for patients who need to perform strength training but are unable to exercise at higher loads due to injury or safety concerns. This allows our physical therapy patients to safely begin strengthening exercises at earlier stages of recovery mitigating the negative effects of weakness and muscle atrophy.