BFR Explained

Post by Travis Hutchinson, DPT

Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) is a training modality used for muscle recovery, strength, and improving muscle endurance. BFR training stimulates various cell building blocks such as growth hormone and collagen (component tendons, and general body tissues). Additionally due to the short bout decrease in blood flow the body establishes more blood vessels to mitigate the decrease in blood flow while the tourniquet is occluding the limbs blood flow. With randomized control studies BFR training has shown correlations with increased bone density, decreasing scar tissue formation, and enhancing cell recovery by swelling the cell with blood promoting a flushing effect.

Here is a list of the targeted benefits of BFR training:

• Growth Hormone

  • Increased lactate → Growth hormone → increasing tissue building blocks (i.e. collagen)

• Increases Oxygenation

  • Increase capillarization

• Bone Healing & Longevity

• Reduces Scar Tissue

• Recovery

  • Blood pumping into mm Cell → Swelling promotes flushing of tissue waste

With the large athletic population seen at One Nine, BFR is used predominantly in the acute postoperative stage as muscle atrophy and weakness is present. The individual can optimize muscle strength and hypertrophy with submaximal loads while the priority is tissue healing. Many times weight bearing precautions are present not allowing for heavy resistance loads thus we can target strength optimization without the client leaving the table. As the precautions are lifted the BFR training can progress to greater exercise and load demands.