Review of systematic reviews on the effects of blood flow restriction training on knee osteoarthritis patients

Abstract

Objectives. A review of the systematic reviews designed to assess the overall certainty in the evidence for the effect of blood flow restriction training (BFRT) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods. A systematic search identified systematic reviews using BFRT in knee osteoarthritis OA. Two authors searched five electronic databases, including Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, PubMed, PEDro, and CINAHL, from October 2010 to October 2023. The quality of included reviews was analyzed by the AMSTAR tool. Results. Six systematic reviews were eligible, and 33 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 1248 participants were included. The quality varied from moderate to high, and results showed minimal enhancement in pain, physical function, and life quality. Conclusion. The synthesis of the reviews has shown some potential improvement in OA patient outcomes. BFRT can be beneficial in OA rehabilitation, and the findings suggest conducting a higher-quality review to explore the use of BFRT with different loads.