Cardiovascular and perceptual responses to blood-flow-restricted resistance exercise with differing restrictive cuffs

Summary

The purpose of this study was to determine (i) the cardiovascular responses to acute blood-flow-restricted (BFR) resistance exercise and (ii) the influence of applied BFR cuff type on the cardiovascular and perceptual responses.

Methods

In a randomized, crossover design, 27 participants wore either a 5·0 cm wide elastic cuff or a 13·5 cm wide non-elastic cuff around the thigh while performing four sets of knee extension exercise using 20% of 1-RM. Brachial and central blood pressure (BP) and aortic augmentation index (AIx) were measured before and after the restrictive cuffs were applied and inflated, after the 2nd and 4th set of resistance exercise, and 5 and 15 min following the 4th set of exercise. Ratings of perceived exertion and pain were obtained before exercise and after the 2nd and 4th set of exercise.

Results

Both brachial and central BPs increased and AIx decreased during BFR exercise but returned to baseline levels within 15 min following exercise. The wide cuffs caused a greater elevation in heart rate, brachial and central BPs, perceived effort and pain and a greater decrease in AIx during the BFR exercise.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that low-intensity BFR resistance exercise does not appear to acutely negatively affect the vasculature. Also, cuff type will greatly affect cardiovascular and perceptual responses to BFR resistance exercise and thus is an important consideration in study design.