Influence of cuff material on blood flow restriction stimulus in the upper body

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the acute skeletal muscle and perceptual responses to blood flow restriction (BFR) exercise to failure between narrow nylon and elastic inflatable cuffs at rest and during exercise. Torque and muscle thickness was measured pre, post, and 5, 20, 40, and 60 min post-exercise with muscle activation being measured throughout exercise. Resting arterial occlusion pressure was different between the nylon [139 (14) mmHg] and elastic [246 (71) mmHg, p < 0.001] cuffs. However, when exercising at 40 % of each cuff's respective arterial occlusion pressure [nylon: 57 (7) vs. elastic: 106 (38) mmHg, p < 0.001], there were no differences in repetitions to failure, torque, muscle thickness, or muscle activation between the cuffs. Exercising with cuffs of different material but similar width resulted in the same acute muscular response when the cuffs were inflated to a pressure relative to each individual cuff.