Short-Term Preconditioning With Blood Flow Restricted Exercise Preserves Quadriceps Muscle Endurance in Patients After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Surgical ACL reconstruction performed with a tourniquet induces compression and ischemic stress of the quadriceps femoris (QF) muscle which can accelerate postoperative weakness. Given that low-load blood flow restricted (BFR) exercise is potent in enhancing muscle oxygenation and vascular function, we hypothesized that short-term preconditioning with low-load BFR exercise can attenuate QF muscle endurance deterioration in the postoperative period. Twenty subjects undergoing arthroscopic ACL reconstruction performed 5 exercise sessions in the last 8 days prior to surgery.