The Effect of Blood Flow Restriction Training on Muscle Atrophy Following Knee Surgery
Condition: Knee Injuries
MeSH terms: Muscular Atrophy; Atrophy; Knee Injuries
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The investigators will compare differences in quadriceps strength, leg girth, and functional
      outcome scores between two groups of patients after weeks 6 and 12 as well as 6 months
      following meniscus or articular cartilage repair/restoration requiring 6 weeks of non-weight
      bearing or limited weight bearing status in a brace at 0° degrees of knee extension. One
      group will receive BFR with standard post-operative rehabilitation for 12 weeks followed by
      the standard protocol progression for the remainder of the treatment program. The other group
      will receive standard post-operative rehabilitation without BFR for the duration of treatment
      program.
    

Detailed description: 
      The aim is to compare strength, patient reported outcomes, and functional outcomes of
      post-operative therapy with and without adjunctive BFR training. To accomplish this task the
      investigators will compare differences in thigh girth between two groups of patients after
      the first 6 weeks and 12 weeks as well as 6 months following meniscus or articular cartilage
      repair requiring 6 weeks of non-weight bearing or limited weight bearing status in a brace at
      0˚ degrees of extension. In addition, isokinetic testing of the quadriceps and hamstrings
      will be performed at 12 weeks and 6 months post-operatively. Lower extremity girth
      measurements after knee surgery can be performed with good to excellent intra- and
      inter-rater reliability. Quadriceps strength measured with isokinetic testing is related to
      performance measures such as jumping. Limb circumference measurement, limb CSA measurement,
      and isokinetic strength testing are commonly utilized in BFR studies as outcome measures.One
      group will receive BFR for 12 weeks in addition to standard post-operative rehabilitation and
      the other group will receive standard post-operative rehabilitation without BFR.
    

Intervention name(s): Blood Flow Restriction; Standard rehabilitation
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Delfi's Personalized Tourniquet System for Blood Flow Restriction has been specifically designed to safely regulate and control tourniquet pressure. Occlusion pressures will be set at 80% of total occlusive pressure as determined by the Doppler sensor. Each subject will perform 4 sets of each exercise (1 set of 30 repetitions followed by 3 sets of 15 repetitions). The pressure will remain through completion of the final set, but not to exceed 5 minutes. One minute rest without tourniquet application will be performed between 5 minute cycles. Sets and repetitions will remain constant for each subject; however, resistance will be incrementally increased after the subject is able to complete all 75 repetitions without loss of proper form.; Standard of care for post-operative condition
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: This is a prospective, randomized control trial. After consenting, subjects will be randomized to one of two groups by using a computer generated random number.
Masking: Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: blood flow restriction; strength; muscle atrophy; post-operative therapy; knee