In another blog entry, we talked about how BFR can accelerate your recovery. It's great for ACL and MCL repairs.
BFR stands for Blood Flow Restriction and the gold standard for Blood Flow Restriction Therapy is a tourniquet system called Delphi Personal Tourniquet system.
As a physical therapist with over a decade of working in the field it is imperative that we can show efficient and accurate gains in function and strength as quickly as possible to counteract deterioration of muscle fibers and atrophy and it’s detrimental effect on function. The faster we as Physical Therapist can get muscle fibers firing properly and with less pain the faster we can return a client to their full function. BFR therapy involves partially restricting blood flow to an extremity for a short period of time while simultaneously performing a specific protocol of exercises with the limb. The purpose of this approach to treatment is to gain significant strength and hypertrophy in muscle fibers with very low to no weight being added to the limb. Therefore with this system you are able to do light non impact exercise your muscle will respond the same as if you are lifting very heavy loads.
Benefits include
- optimal gains in strength by recruiting deep muscle fibers
- deceasing pain and swelling early on after acute injury or surgical intervention
- ability to perform activity and strengthening to minimize limitations in function
- avoid atrophy in the absence of weight bearing on a painful limb or post surgical procedure
- improving overall function and performance for all without Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
As great as all of these benefits sound not all BFR units are created the same. The quality and safety of the unit is directly correlated to the outcomes. Here at Rose Physical Therapy in Washington DC we only use the gold Standard in BFR systems called the Delphi Personal Tourniquet system by Owens Recovery Science. This unit is an FDA approved device that has been used been researched and used in over 800 clinical trials which follow the same standards required in a surgical procedure. Other safety benefits include:
- automatic shut off
- Doppler Ultrasound within the blood flow cuff for accurate personalized measurements
- lower pressure for limb occlusion with a wider surface area of cuff
Using The Delfi Tourniquet system for BFR Therapy is the optimal way to regain function for return to full activity level.
Rose Physical Therapy is one of the few clinics in Washington DC to have the gold standard in BFR Therapy. Contact the clinic to set up a one on one evaluation with an experienced Physical Therapist.