Frankie Fan*, Robert A Grant, Kar Teoh, Paul Y F Lee and Alun Yewlett
Resistance training forms a key component of holistic care within orthopaedics. Blood-Flow Restriction Training (BFRT) is an increasingly popular alternative technique to stimulate comparable muscular gains to traditional resistance training. Indeed, BFRT may be more suitable for orthopaedic populations who cannot tolerate the high intensity of traditional resistance training. BFRT appears to stimulate multiple physiological changes to induce Muscular Protein Synthesis (MPS). Specifically, increased anabolic signalling within the akt/mTOR pathway appears to be a central mediator. Nutritional supplementation is a common method to support muscular gains in resistance training. Protein and creatine are amongst those most well documented in the literature. Protein supplementation may enhance muscular gains by potentiation of MPS via the akt/mTOR pathway when combined with resistance training. Creatine supplementation appears to have an ergogenic effect with subsequent positive impacts on body composition and recovery. There is minimal literature considering the benefits of combined nutritional supplementation and BFRT and no available literature considering orthopaedic populations as the study group. Nevertheless, the literature cites numerous benefits to protein and creatine supplementation in traditional resistance training. In conclusion, this advocates for further studies to see if BFRT can be enhanced with protein and/or creatine supplementation.
