Effect of Blood Flow Restriction on Functional, Physiological and Structural Variables of Muscle in Patients with Chronic Pathologies: A Systematic Review.

Álvaro Jesús Reina-Ruiz,Jose Antonio Merchán-Baeza,Manuel González-Sánchez,Alejandro Galán-Mercant,Rita Pilar Romero-Galisteo,Guadalupe Molina-Torres

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031160

Abstract

The main objective of this systematic review of the current literature is to analyze the changes that blood flow restriction (BFR) causes in subjects with neuro-musculoskeletal and/or systemic pathologies focusing on the following variables: strength, physiological changes, structural changes and cardiocirculatory variables. The search was carried out in seven databases, including randomized clinical trials in which therapeutic exercise was combined with the blood flow restriction tool in populations with musculoskeletal pathologies. Outcome variables are strength, structural changes, physiological changes and cardiocirculatory variables. Twenty studies were included in the present study. Although there is a lot of heterogeneity between the interventions and evaluation instruments, we observed how the restriction of blood flow presents significant differences in the vast majority of the variables analyzed. In addition, we observed how BFR can become a supplement that provides benefits when performed with low intensity, similar to those obtained through high-intensity muscular efforts. The application of the BFR technique can provide benefits in the short and medium term to increase strength, muscle thickness and cardiovascular endurance, even improving the physiological level of the cardiovascular system. In addition, BFR combined with low-load exercises also achieves benefits comparable to high-intensity exercises without the application of BFR, benefiting patients who are unable to lift high loads.

Highlights

Introduction distributed under the terms andFor decades, blood flow restriction (BFR), originating from Japan, has become one of the most popular techniques in physiotherapy [1]
Once the search strategy was carried out, the inclusion criteria of studies were established as those randomized clinical trials in which therapeutic exercise was combined with the blood flow restriction tool in populations with musculoskeletal pathologies, and which were published between 1 January 2015 and 21 August 2021
A disparity in the results is found among the observed findings, in which the BFR becomes an alternative tool to high-load exercises in the short and medium term, since the neuromuscular and hormonal reactions caused by the pressure promote the segregation of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and an increase in muscle activation [8]

Summary

Introduction

Introduction distributed under the terms andFor decades, blood flow restriction (BFR), originating from Japan, has become one of the most popular techniques in physiotherapy [1].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion