Sometimes, I’ll admit KAATSU does sound too good to be true. Use KAATSU with light resistance training to grow muscle? Just use it passively to improve circulation? It works in the elderly and infirm as well as it does with Olympic athletes and Navy Seals?
Well, yeah. It does. Before KAATSU became a commercial product, Dr. Yoshiaki Sato (the inventor of KAATSU) was using it on his clients in Tokyo, Japan. Everyone from professional golfers and sumo wrestlers to the regular clinic clients who needed rehabilitation from common injuries was coming to see him. Why? Because KAATSU worked.
Then, from the mid-1990’s, KAATSU was studied by a team of cardiologists at the University of Tokyo Hospital for a decade to see what effect it would have on cardiac rehabilitation patients. Over 7000 patients received KAATSU treatments over this time and many research papers were published showcasing the results. KAATSU was shown to be both effective and safe.
When KAATSU was introduced in the North American market, most people felt it was too good to be true. They couldn’t believe that it worked, but the skeptics turned into believers when they saw the results. Here’s Dr. David Chao, an Orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, Head Team Physician for the San Diego Chargers for 17 years, X-Games Chief Medical Officer for 19 years – talking about how he was a fan of Blood Flow Modification (also known as Blood Flow Restriction) – and how KAATSU is the “Unicorn” – one of those rare, new methods that does what it says and is something he applied extensively in his sports medicine career. (Dr. Chao is the Chief Medical Office for KAATSU Global.)
I hope this answers the question of whether KAATSU really works. If you would like more clarification, please read through the other FAQs about KAATSU, or leave a question in the comment box below.