Blood Flow Restriction Training in Patients With Weight Bearing Restrictions After Knee Surgery

Physical Therapy With Blood Flow Restriction Training to Enhance Recovery in Patients With Early Weight Bearing Restrictions After Knee Surgery: A Feasibility Study

After a cartilage or meniscus repair in the knee joint, the patients experience a pronounced and persistent decrease of knee-extension strength in the operated leg, which negatively affect patients' functional performance and quality of life. A possible novel exercise modality to increase muscle strength early is a moderate blood flow restriction with low-load strength training (BFR-LLST) exercise. BFR-LLST involves application of a wrapping device to restrict the blood flow to the muscle(s) during exercise. BFR- LLST requires much less load than traditional strength training and has shown to produce positive training adaptations such as muscle hypertrophy and strength in the lower extremity in healthy subjects and patients with a knee surgery. To our knowledge, early rehabilitation with BFR-LLST has never been investigated in a population with weight bearing restrictions, such as patients recovering from cartilage or meniscus repair in the knee joint. Fear of symptom exacerbation and adverse events have precluded BFR-LLST early after knee surgery. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of 9 weeks of supervised rehabilitation with BFR-LLST early after cartilage or meniscus repair in the knee joint.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient has a cartilage and/or meniscus repair in 1 or 2 knee(s).
• Patient is between 18 and 70 years.
• Patient is able to speak and understand Danish.
• Patient has given informed consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient has problems that severely limits ambulatory function from unstable orthopaedic (besides cartilage repair and meniscal fixation in the knee joint), neurological, vascular or cardiac conditions.
• Patient has a history of diagnosed major psychiatric disorder.
• Patient has a history of illicit drug use; be currently abusing alcohol or currently withdrawing from alcohol abuse.
• Patient has a history of endothelial dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, diabetes.
• Patient has a history of heart disease and deep vein thrombosis.
• Patient is pregnant.
• Patient has cancer (current diagnosis).
• Patient has an active infection.