Upper Limb Blood Flow Restriction in Handball Players

NCT ID: NCT06423196

Last Updated: 2025-03-25

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 22 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-05-19
• Study Completion Date: 2024-07-01

Brief Summary

Introduction. Blood flow restriction therapy involves the use of an occlusion cuff placed over an extremity resulting in a partial reduction of arterial blood flow and total restriction of venous return.

Objectives. To analyse the efficacy of a physiotherapy intervention using blood flow restriction in improving upper limb strength in adult handball players.

Methods. Randomised, single-blind, clinical study. 20 athletes will be recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The intervention of the experimental group will consist of performing an exercise protocol after blood flow restriction. The intervention period will last 4 weeks, with a periodicity of 2 weekly sessions of 30 minutes each. The primary variable will be the strength of the triceps, epicondyle and epitrochlear musculature (pressure hand dynamometer). The secondary variable will be the muscle activation of this musculature (surface electromyography).

Conditions

Sports Physical Therapy

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Experimental group

The intervention of the experimental group will consist of performing an exercise protocol after carrying out the blood flow restriction. A total of 6 muscle strength exercises will be performed for the proximal (triceps brachii) and forearm (epitrochlear and epicondylar muscles).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Experimental group

Intervention Type: OTHER

In the development of the exercises, the players will mobilise dumbbells of different weights that will be estimated according to the calculation of 30% of 1 RM. This workload with dumbbells is based on previous work where blood flow restriction was used in healthy athletes.

Control group

Patients included in the control group will continue with their pre-study training and activities, without modifying their routine.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Experimental group

In the development of the exercises, the players will mobilise dumbbells of different weights that will be estimated according to the calculation of 30% of 1 RM. This workload with dumbbells is based on previous work where blood flow restriction was used in healthy athletes.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Athletes over 18 years of age.
• Federated in handball at the time of the study.
• No lower limb injuries in the three months prior to the study.
• Signing the informed consent document.

Exclusion Criteria

• Athletes who have undergone surgery in the year prior to the study.
• People who do not attend at least 80% of the treatment sessions.
• Players who are receiving physiotherapy treatment in parallel to the physical preparation of the team they are playing for.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 30 Years
• Eligible Sex: MALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Rubén Cuesta-Barriuso, PhD

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Universidad Católica San Antonio, Murcia

Murcia, , Spain

Countries

Spain

Other Identifiers

Floss-Hand

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id