BFR Training For Tendon Health & Rehab?

📄A scoping review has recently been published concerning the current evidence for BFR on Tendon health and rehab.

🔑 Key Points:
BFR seems to induce comparable changes in muscle mass, strength, and hypoalgesia compared with High-Load Resistance Training (HLRT) however specific tendon adaptations are less explored.

The review finds limited evidence on the specific effect of BFR on tendon health.

Heterogeneities of the current data challenge the idea of BFR as the primary approach in tendon rehab.

📚Background & Objective:
Though BFR produces similar changes in muscle mass and strength VS HLRT and can help individuals that are load intolerable, it has been questioned whether the effect on tendons is comparable. It has been speculated that BFR simply positively impacts muscles relatively more than tendons!?

📍Aim:
What BFR protocols and outcomes have been used in BFR tendon research? What physiological mechanisms explaining BFR on tendon health have been explored?

⚙️Methods:
A systematic search for publications concerning BFR on tendon e.g. tendinopathy etc.

✅️Results:
13 articles. Including acute and longitudinal studies on achilles, supraspinatus, biceps brachii, and patellar tendon.

⚠️Limitations:
A scarce number of relevant studies, heterogeneity in BFR applications, frequency of training, duration of intervention, and general exercise prescription hinder the extrapolation of BFR protocols into clinical practice.

Few studies have explored differences in properties and different regions of tendons and missing the comparison of different BFR protocols.

🤔Clinical Implications:
Head on over to physio-network.com to read @thehpm extrapolation of how to use BFR within the plan of care in tendon rehab.

📄Primary source:
Burton & McCormack (2022) Blood Flow Restriction Resistance Training in Tendon Rehabilitation: A Scoping Review on Intervention Parameters, Physiological Effects, and Outcomes

physio-network.com/free-resources/research-reviews/ –> 06 August 2022.

Let us know what You think in the comments!?