Lower Extremity Muscle Activity During Walking with Blood Flow Restriction and Body Weight Support

Body weight support (BWS) reduces joint loading but also lowers muscle activation during walking, while blood flow restriction (BFR) increases muscle activation and metabolic stress during low-intensity exercise. Although both interventions are used in rehabilitation settings, their combined effects on neuromuscular responses during locomotion have not been studied. The purpose of this study was to determine whether muscle activity of the rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA), gastrocnemius (GA), and stride frequency (SF) were influenced by an interaction between BWS and BFR. Methods: Seven healthy participants (three men and four women; 23.7 ± 3.0 years; 171.3 ± 6.9 cm; 64.4 ± 4.94 kg) completed four walking conditions at 0% and 50% BWS with and without 80% occlusion pressure of BFR at a self-selected speed. Electromyography (EMG) was recorded for 30s during each condition. Results: EMG was not influenced by interaction between BWS and BFR for RF (p = 0.761), BF (p = 0.845), TA (p = 0.684), GA (p = 0.129), or SF (p = 0.345). Furthermore, RF (p = 0.479), BF (p = 0.639), TA (p = 0.684), GA (p = 0.404), and SF (p = 0.161) were influenced by the main effect of BFR. RF (p = 0.102), BF (p = 0.675), TA (p = 0.900), and SF (p = 0.740) were influenced by the main effect of BWS. However, GA was influenced by BWS regardless of BFR (p = 0.039). Conclusions: The combination of an acute application of BFR and BWS did not influence lower extremity muscle activity when walking at a self-selected pace. Further research is needed to continue to explore the neuromuscular responses to the combination of BFR and BWS under varying levels of BFR application, BWS, and walking speeds.