Adding blood flow restriction to low-load exercise induced a similar hypoalgesic response to exercise alone, but required fewer repetitions (median difference -27.0; 95% CI -29.8 to -24.4).
Does blood flow restriction augment exercise-induced hypoalgesia during low-load resistance exercise to failure in healthy young participants?
Adding blood flow restriction to low-load exercise to failure achieves similar hypoalgesia with fewer repetitions compared to exercise alone.
Purpose: To 1) examine whether blood flow restriction would provide an additional exercise-induced hypoalgesic response at an upper and lower limb when it is incorporated with low-load resistance exercise until failure, and 2) examine if increases in blood pressure and discomfort, with blood flow restricted exercise, would mediate the exercise-induced hypoalgesia over exercise without blood flow restriction. Methods: Forty healthy young participants completed two trials: four sets of unilateral knee extension exercise to failure at 30% of one-repetition maximum, with and without blood flow restriction. Pressure pain thresholds were assessed before (twice) and 5-min post exercise at an upper and lower limb. Blood pressure and discomfort ratings were recorded to examine mediating effects on exercise-induced hypoalgesia with blood flow restricted exercise. Results: Pressure pain threshold increased following both exercise conditions compared to a control, without any differences between exercise conditions at the upper (exercise conditions vs. control: ~0.37 kg/cm2) and lower (exercise conditions vs. control: ~0.60 kg/cm2) limb. The total number of repetitions was lower for exercise with blood flow restriction compared to exercise alone median difference (95% credible interval) of −27.0 (−29.8, −24.4) repetitions. There were no mediating effects of changes in blood pressure, nor changes in discomfort, for the changes in pressure pain threshold at either the upper or lower limb. Conclusion: The addition of blood flow restriction to low-load exercise induces a similar hypoalgesic response to that of non-blood flow restricted exercise, with a fewer number of repetitions.
Song et al. (Mon,) conducted a other in Healthy (n=40). Low-load resistance exercise to failure with blood flow restriction vs. Low-load resistance exercise to failure without blood flow restriction was evaluated on Pressure pain threshold at an upper and lower limb. Adding blood flow restriction to low-load exercise induced a similar hypoalgesic response to exercise alone, but required fewer repetitions (median difference -27.0; 95% CI -29.8 to -24.4).