If you took all the unused fitness equipment people have purchased and stacked one on top of another, you’d probably make a stack high enough to get to the moon and back. Maybe more than once.
This is true for home users as well as in professional rehabilitation clinics. There are some pieces of equipment that become well used and others that sit in the corner and collect dust. From our experience, KAATSU is not one of those dust collectors.
The Pain of Traditional BFR
There are a many BFR systems on the market, mostly derived from tourniquets or blood pressure cuffs. These systems aren’t comfortable for the average home user or rehabilitation client to use. The cuffs are wide and rigid and don’t move with the body, often creating discomfort when moving. Some BFR systems require you to lie still as part of their protocols to avoid such issues.
Even then, having blood flow to your limb occluded by 50~80% isn’t pleasant either. Some folks report their BFR experiences as “lying there in pain”. You might be providing physical therapy to the body with this kind of BFR, but it sounds like torture to me.
The Comfort of KAATSU
In contrast, KAATSU’s Air Bands are designed to be flexible and move with the body. Yes, they get tighter as the air pressure increases but it should never be so tight as to cause pain. KAATSU was researched for a decade on approximately 7000 cardiac rehabilitation patients at the University of Tokyo Hospital. If treating these patients with KAATSU was painful you can bet it wouldn’t have been used very long.
The KAATSU approach is one of gentle, incrementally increasing pressure that reduces the venous flow from the limb to the heart, thus engorging the limb with blood. This gentle engorgement is very well tolerated by virtually everyone. From the design of the KAATSU Air Bands to the patented KAATSU Cycle Mode, the system has been designed to produce the incredible physiological benefits that BFR is prized for without the serious discomfort that often accompanies BFR training.
People Don’t Choose Things They Don’t Like
Time and time again we’ve heard from users and therapists that they’ve replaced other BFR systems with KAATSU. They appreciate the results they get from KAATSU training, rehabilitation, and recovery even more because of the comfort of the system. If you’re considering getting into BFR for the first time, consider the value of investing in a system you’ll actually enjoy using compared to buying something you’ll regret. If you have a BFR system collecting dust, consider investing in KAATSU to reap BFR gains without BFR pains.