There’s been a lot of research done on KAATSU over its 50+ year history. KAATSU is the original form of blood flow restriction, or BFR (although we prefer the original term “blood flow moderation”, or even just the moniker of “Japanese Pressure Training”). Because BFR is such a “new” market outside of Japan, a good amount of the research that KAATSU competitors point to as reference to their products being safe is actually research done on KAATSU. Go figure.

KAATSU Global is pursuing a number of research projects on KAATSU for a variety of conditions.

Links to KAATSU Research Papers

• Cardiovascular and metabolic responses to walking with and without leg blood flow restriction
• Cross-Transfer Effects of Resistance Training with Blood Flow Restriction
• Effect of 42 week walk training with blood flow reduction on muscle size and strength in the elderly
• Effect of knee extension exercise with KAATSU on forehead cutaneous blood flow in healthy young and middle-aged women
• Effects of KAATSU on muscular function during isometric exercise
• Effects of KAATSU training on haemostasis in healthy subjects
• Effects of low-intensity KAATSU resistance training on skeletal muscle size-strength and endurance capacity in patients with ischemic heart disease
• Effects of Low-Intensity Walk Training With Restricted Leg Blood Flow on Muscle Strength and Aerobic Capacity in Older Adults
• Effects of resistance exercise combined with moderate vascular occlusion on muscular function in humans
• Hemodynamic and hormonal responses to a short-term low-intensity resistance exercise with the reduction of muscle blood flow
• KAATSU Training – Application to Metabolic Syndrome
• Muscle activation during low-intensity muscle contractions with varying levels of external limb compression
• Muscle size and strength are increased following walk training with restricted venous blood flow from the leg muscle, Kaatsu-walk training
• Rapid increase in plasma growth hormone after low-intensity resistance exercise with vascular occlusion
• Repetitive restriction of muscle blood flow enhances mTOR signaling pathways in a rat model in the Heart and Vessels Journal (January 2016)
• Skeletal muscle size and circulating IGF-1 are increased after two weeks of twice daily KAATSU resistance training
• Thigh muscle size and vascular function after blood flow-restricted elastic band training in older women
• Use and Safety of KAATSU – Results of a National Survey in Japan