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Low Load, High Gains: Blood Flow Restriction's Impact on Quadriceps Adaptations

NCT06746792 · Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2025-03-04

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Low-load resistance exercise with blood flow restriction (BFR-RE) presents a compelling alternative to high-load resistance exercise (HL-RE), particularly in scenarios where high loads are not feasible due to various limitations. Blood flow restriction exercise restricts blood flow to the working muscle, creating a state of ischemia. A significant advantage of BFR-RE lies in its capacity to stimulate muscle hypertrophy and strength adaptations using light external loads (20-30% 1RM), comparable to those achieved with high-load (HL) training programs that employ 70-85% 1RM As a result, BFR training has been increasingly adopted in both athletic performance and rehabilitation settings over the past few decades. Quadriceps strength and power are essential factors in both the advancement of athletic performance and the successful return to unrestricted sporting activity following injury. The findings of Culvenor et al.'s review strongly suggest that weakened quadriceps strength is a significant risk factor for symptomatic and functional decline in the knee during both activities of daily living and sport-recreational activities. Numerous electromyographic (EMG) findings suggest that single-joint and multijoint exercises elicit varying muscle activation patterns. For instance, single-joint exercises targeting the quadriceps, such as leg extensions, demonstrate higher EMG amplitudes compared to multijoint lower-extremity exercises like leg presses and squats. Resistance training, characterized by the application of high mechanical tension, remains the cornerstone for promoting muscle hypertrophy, So, research suggests that higher training intensities are associated with greater hypertrophy, up to a certain point. While both light and heavy loads have been shown to elicit similar muscle growth when sets are taken to failure. Studies have reported that high-repetition training with light loads leads to greater central fatigue. Existing literature comparing the effects of BFR-RE and HL-RE primarily focuses on the some quadriceps and hamstring muscle group and its associated exercises. However, none of these studies employed a training protocol in which sets were taken to or near failure.

Conditions

  • Healthy Individuals

Interventions

OTHER

Low-load resistance exercise with blood flow restriction

BFR-RE group performed bilateral leg extension exercises to volitional exhaustion (90 seconds rest between sets, 30% 1RM) with BFR cuffs applied at 60% of limb occlusion pressure.

OTHER

High-load resistance exercise

The HL-RE group performed the same exercise to volitional exhaustion (90 seconds rest between sets, 70% 1RM) without BFR cuffs.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Karabuk University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
25 Years
Sex
MALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-10-11
Primary Completion
2025-03-29
Completion
2025-03-29

Countries

  • Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06746792 on ClinicalTrials.gov