Limb Occlusion Pressure: A Method to Assess Changes in Systolic Blood Pressure

Although often used as a surrogate, comparisons between traditional blood pressure measurements and limb occlusion assessed via hand-held Doppler have yet to be completed. Using limb occlusion pressure as a method of assessing systolic pressure is of interest to those studying the acute effects of blood flow restriction, where the removal of the cuff may alter the physiological response.

We sought to determine how changes in limb occlusion pressure track with changes in traditional assessments of blood pressure.

Limb occlusion pressure measured by hand-held Doppler and blood pressure measured by an automatic blood pressure cuff were assessed at rest and following isometric knee extension (post and 5 minutes post).

Each individual had a similar dispersion from the mean value for both the limb occlusion pressure measurement and traditional systolic blood pressure measurement [BF10: 0.33; median (95% credible interval): 0.02 (-6.0, 5.9) %]. In response to lower body isometric exercise, blood pressure changed across time. The difference between measurements was small at immediately post and 5 minutes post. The Bayes factors were in the direction of the null but did not exceed the threshold needed to accept the null hypothesis. However, at 5 minutes post, the differences were within the range of practical equivalence (within ± 4.6%).

Our findings suggest that changes in limb occlusion pressure measured by hand-held Doppler track similarly to traditional measurements of brachial systolic blood pressure following isometric knee extension exercise.