Equine blood flow restriction training: Safety validation

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Equine Rehabilitation
• Biomechanical Analysis

Background:

• Blood flow restriction (BFR) is a rehabilitative tool for human orthopaedics.
• Patient-specific occlusion percentages are standard in humans for improved outcomes and safety.
• Lack of safety validation and limb occlusion pressure (LOP) data in horses.

Purpose of the Study:

• Validate BFR safety by assessing forelimb biomechanical gait dysfunction.
• Investigate inter-horse and inter-limb differences in LOP for horses.

Main Methods:

• Controlled in vivo experiment with daily unilateral forelimb BFR in four horses over 56 days.
• Clinical examinations and gait analyses on Days 0, 28, and 56.
• Doppler evaluation to determine LOP for 80% vascular occlusion; linear mixed model for gait parameter analysis.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in forelimb lameness, kinetic, or kinematic gait parameters over time or between BFR-exposed and control limbs.
• No clinically apparent complications (e.g., thrombosis, dermatitis) observed.
• Significant differences in mean LOP between horses and between left (204.48 mmHg) and right (173.78 mmHg) forelimbs.

Conclusions:

• BFR exposure did not induce forelimb biomechanical dysfunction in the studied horses.
• Applied pressures of 75-151 mmHg may approximate 50%-80% occlusion in horses.
• Individualized LOP assessment is crucial due to physiological variations between horses and limbs.