Some athletes fit a to an arm or a leg before effort, briefly stopping the blood flow and then releasing it, so that the body is better prepared. A review of dozens of studies compared that with a cuff at low pressure and with no intervention at all. What was left?
Almost nothing above the sham. The review covered 79 studies. In most performance measures no clear advantage over the appeared. In a small advantage did show up, so the conclusion is not “no effect at all” but that the broad promise is unfounded.
The method is called ischemic preconditioning: blood flow is restricted briefly and then released. The hypothesis is that the body will respond better to the effort that follows.
The pooled seventy-nine studies, many of which compared a real cuff with a weak one. The review also examined groups with no intervention at all, to distinguish a physiological benefit from an expectation created by the ritual.
Across 79 studies no consistent advantage of the real restriction over the sham appeared in most outcomes. Time to exhaustion was the exception, with a small advantage.
The right summary is not “works” or “does not work” for all athletes. The current evidence does not support a broad promise, and different protocols may give different results.
wat. A pressure cuff before sport did not beat a sham cuff on most of the performance measures in the review.
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When testing a training trick, it matters to compare against the sensation and the expectation the treatment itself creates.
How do we know?
A systematic review and meta-analysis compared a real pressure cuff, a sham cuff and no intervention separately across studies of physical performance.
What is still unknown
Sports, pressures and protocols all differed. A small advantage on one measure does not justify a promise of improvement in every sport or for every athlete.
Learn something?
Where to next
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