Blood Flow Restriction Training for Individuals With Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Research suggests that healthy eating and exercise decrease the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis (OA) with age. Despite this, OA is a prevalent chronic condition that typically causes joint pain at rest and during exercise, making it difficult to develop effective training programs. Recently, blood flow restriction (BFR) training has shown to be a beneficial alternative to traditional resistance training to improve muscle function. In this article, we provide a rationale as to how BFR may be a beneficial resistance training alternative that would allow individuals with osteoarthritis to experience similar improvements in muscle function compared with traditional resistance training using lower relative intensities.