Effect of Blood Flow Restriction Rraining on Rehabilitation After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Summary

Importance: Following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), patients often experience quadriceps muscle weakness and atrophy, frequently leading to long-term complications. A promising rehabilitation program based on blood flow restriction training (BFRT) seems to be particularly valuable for patients who may be unable to train with heavy loads due recent surgery. Previous studies have demonstrated that BFRT promotes strength gains and muscle mass increases, with adaptations comparable to traditional high-intensity training, despite using low-load resistance exercises.

Objective: to evaluate the effect of blood flow restriction training on quadriceps strength and knee biomechanics in a 4-month rehabilitation program of patients who have had an ACL reconstruction.

Design: The study will be a two-arm superiority randomized controlled clinical trial.

Setting: The trial will be conducted at a work-related injuries specialised hospital, MAZ Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain.

Participants: Participants will be active workers who have suffered an acute ACL tear and they have undergone ACL reconstruction (n=60).

Intervention: Patients will recieve a 14-16-week supervised accelerated early rehabilitation protocol; one group will complete it applying blood flow restriction training and the other will not.

Main Outcome and Measure: The primary outcomes will be peak quadriceps strength and rate of torque development measured both isometrically and isokinetcally with a Isokinetic Dynamometer CON-TREX MG.

Limitations: Potential limitations include patients and physiotherapists are not blinded.

Conclusions: The focus of the research will examine the impact of blood flow restriction rehabilitation on patients who have undergone ACLR.

Relevance: The study has potential to restore quadriceps strength to a greater extent than standard rehabilitation protocol. Moreover, patients will spend less time in the rehabilitation process to return to work compared to standard care.

Conditions

• Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Rehabilitation
• Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Training Effects

Interventions

OTHER

Blood flow restriction training

BFRT consists of a pressurized cuff that is applied to the proximal thigh in order to partially occlude blood flow while the patient exercises. It is believed that the accumulated effects of fatigue, mechanical tension, metabolic stress and reactive hyperaemia contribute to promoting adaptation of the quadriceps with minimal strain. Therefore, patients can train at reduced loads and may receive the same training benefits as if they were training with high loads.

OTHER

Standard ACL rehabilitation

A 14-16-week supervised accelerated early rehabilitation protocol was selected based on previous evidence.8 It is characterised by early unrestricted motion and weight-bearing, without the use of an immobilising brace and commencing early strength training.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hospital MAZ

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jose Antonio Casajus Mallen, University professor · Universidad de Zaragoza

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-12-20

Primary Completion

2026-09-01

Completion

2027-09-01

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations