Acute effects of dynamic stretching combined with different blood flow restriction pressures on explosive performance...

This study aimed to investigate the acute effects of dynamic stretching (DS) combined with different blood flow restriction (BFR) pressures on explosive performance in healthy young males, and to examine whether these effects differed across estimated arterial occlusion pressure (AOP) levels and performance tasks.

In a randomized crossover design, 20 participants completed four warm-up protocols: DS alone, and DS combined with BFR at 30%, 50%, or 70% of estimated AOP applied to the proximal thighs. Explosive performance was assessed before and after each warm-up protocol using countermovement jump (CMJ), standing long jump (SLJ), 10-m sprint (10mSS), and 505 change-of-direction (505COD) tests.

CMJ showed a significant time × condition interaction. All DS+BFR protocols produced greater CMJ change scores than DS alone (all p < 0.01), with mean changes of 5.80 ± 1.99 cm, 5.95 ± 2.33 cm, and 5.15 ± 1.90 cm for the 30%, 50%, and 70% estimated AOP conditions, respectively, compared with 3.50 ± 2.21 cm in the DS condition. No significant differences were observed among the three BFR pressures. In contrast, SLJ, 10-m sprint, and 505COD showed no significant time × condition interactions, indicating that adding BFR did not provide statistically greater acute benefits than the DS condition for these tasks.

Adding BFR to dynamic stretching produced an additional acute benefit for CMJ, but this effect was not pressure-dependent across the estimated AOP levels tested. The additional benefit of BFR was not observed for SLJ, 10-m sprint, or 505COD, suggesting that the acute effects of DS+BFR may be task-specific.