
Blood Flow Moderation is NOT Blood Flow Restriction
Episode Description
EPISODE 003: Dr. David Chao explains the difference between Blood Flow Moderation (BFM) and Blood Flow Restriction (BFR).
WHAT IS KAATSU?
KAATSU is a revolutionary means of improving human performance, rehabilitation and recovery through increasing blood flow while producing a concurrent hormonal and metabolic response. Used by Olympic and professional athletes, tactical athletes in the military, older Baby Boomers, and injured people and paraplegics.
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Transcript
KAATSU is detachable, portable, cyclable, customizable, bilateral, and no occlusion. So if you’re looking for the beginner model, you should stick with Owen. Go buy KAATSU. If you’re looking for the safer, more versatile option, use all the principles that Owens teaches you and go to the next level. There’s no comparison. Statements made in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. For more information about KAATSU and KAATSU products, visit KAATSUglobal.com. That’s K-A-A-T-S-U-Global.com. Greetings, RP Nation. This is Brian Carberry coming to you from my desk in Fort Worth, Texas, where the topic of conversation today is blood flow restriction training. Today, I’m joined by Dr. David Chao.
Dr. Chao is a board certified orthopedic surgeon with a subspecialty certification in sports medicine. He’s been engaged in an active San Diego practice since 1995. He has served as the head team physician for the San Diego Chargers, as well as also being the former Chief Medical Officer for ESPN’s X Games at over two dozen summer and winter games. He’s the former team physician for the USA 7’s rugby team and served as team physician for many local universities and high schools.
In addition, Dr. Chao is a member of the International ACL Study Group, the NFL Physician Society, the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and he’s an assistant clinical instructor at UC San Diego. So Dr. Chell, I want to jump straight into this. Right now in North America, the blood flow restriction conversation or the narrative, if you will, is being promoted via Owen’s Recovery Science certification program. And I have a number of customers who have invested in other innovative sports products from my company, RP Sports, who have come from this BFR certification via Owens, and they expressed concerns to me with the safety profile of KAATSU. Can you speak to that from your perspective as an orthopedic surgeon?
I applaud Johnny Owens and Owens Recovery Science for latching on to this concept. But this concept really started with KAATSU, and KAATSU has 100 times more worldwide usages than Owens. And thus the safety profile. The safety profile, it’s been in hundreds of thousands of everyday people’s hands without medical supervision in Japan and around the world. And we haven’t seen a problem. Owens has only been in medically trained hands. And even so, there has been a handful of, but the bottom line is the proof is that Stephen can get you the numbers.
It’s like 30 million usages. And you don’t have real-life problems. And you haven’t required certification to use it. Dr. Chao, as I understand it, one of the key differences between the Owens Recovery Science blood flow restriction approach and the KAATSU blood flow modification approach is the nature of the cuff itself. And the Owens Recovery Science cuff is a, I mean, essentially it’s a surgical tourniquet. Thus, it’s wide and it’s rigid.
KAATSU, conversely, is a relatively narrow and elastic band, which serves to modify blood flow rather than fully restrict it. Can you elaborate on the difference between blood flow modification and blood flow restriction in terms of safety? And then also touch on the fundamental difference in the nature, the design of a surgical tourniquet versus a KAATSU band.
Blood flow restriction is potentially dangerous. Blood flow modification is not. This is why yours is more flexible and more powerful. Because a tourniquet was designed to occlude. The KAATSU bands were never designed to occlude, which is why it’s safer. Pump up an Owens tourniquet, you should make a video and watch the pulse oximeter go away.
The Owens tourniquet is a tourniquet, period. They make no modifications from a surgical tourniquet. As a matter of fact, the FDA approval is as a surgical tourniquet, not as an exercise device. Go look at the FDA approval. They don’t have anything to do with exercise. It’s a surgical tourniquet, and that’s why it’s FDA-approved. And the FDA has never approved any of the protocols.
But Owens, although it’s good, it has benefits, is blood flow restriction, and blood flow modification is the end goal and better.
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And the KAATSU Cycle 2.0 offers customizable KAATSU pressures. KAATSU, profoundly simple and simply profound. Statements made in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. For more information about KAATSU and KAATSU products, visit KAATSUglobal.com.That’s K-A-A-T-S-U-Global.com.
What about the narrow band design of a KAATSU? That certainly is unsafe, right? You know, the message coming out of the Owens Recovery Science camp is, oh no, don’t use the narrow one. It’s much safer to use a wider one. What are your thoughts on this? The reason why Owens and tourniquets can occlude is because they’re so wide.
Because KAATSU is thinner, the pressure transducer, if you draw a diagram from your arm or your thigh, narrow cones down, right? Why are arm tourniquets thinner than thigh tourniquets in the marketplace? ‘ Cause there’s more tissue in the thigh. So you need it wider to get the occlusion. When you put an arm tourniquet on a leg, you often don’t get occlusion. That’s the difference. So the KAATSU bands being thinner, I would promote it as a benefit. It’s a safety benefit.
The cuffs were custom designed to not occlude and custom designed with the soft belly do not have any neurogenic or vascular consequences. Even in well-trained hands, prolonged occlusion is dangerous, which is why Owens has to say, “Careful, careful, careful, careful.” KAATSU, put it on yourself. Pump it up to 500. Put it on as long as you can. You get pain because of the lactic acid buildup, but you never can change the O2 sat. So that proves the blood flow modification. So you don’t get limb ischemia, but you can get with the Owens. That’s the basic science portion of it.
Okay. Last question, Dr. Chao, because I know your time is extremely valuable. And I want to just say thank you, by the way, for joining me on this call. The last question is, what would you say to one of my customers? Keeping in mind that I would say most of my customers are athletic trainers or PTs who are working with elite athletes every day. What would you say to a customer of mine who is considering KAATSU versus Owen’s recovery science when it comes to embracing blood flow restriction or blood flow modification in their program?
You have to say Owens is good, but KAATSU is better. Owens is a Prius. KAATSU is a Tesla. Owens is a point-and-shoot autofocus one-touch camera. The beginner’s model. KAATSU, because of the cycle function, because of its detachability, because of its bilaterality, because of its ability to be used in water, because of its much more functional nature, and because it doesn’t cut off, and you can customize the pressures, KAATSU is a professional model that allows you to set the F-stop and aperture, an exposure, and turn the flash on and off. They’re both good products.
And congratulations to you, Mr. Physical Therapist or Miss Athletic Trainer, for getting on to the blood flow bandwagon. Let me tell you, blood flow modification is far superior to blood flow restriction for many, many reasons. If you get used to Owens, you will graduate to Cotton when you want to do more. Owens is easier to use. You can’t argue about that, but it’s not detachable, unilateral, and does have occlusion. KAATSU is detachable, portable, cyclable, customizable, bilateral, and no exclusion. So if you’re looking for the beginner model, you should stick with Owen. Don’t buy KAATSU. If you’re looking for the safer, more versatile option, use all the principles that Owens teaches you and go to the next level. There’s no comparison.
Thank you again for your time today. This has been extremely helpful and enlightening for me personally. I’m certain that this will help to ease some of the concerns of our customer base and improve the confidence in utilizing the KAATSU technology both safely and effectively. Have a great day. Thanks very much.
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Invented in 1966 by Dr. Yoshiaki Sato of Tokyo, Japan, and protected by 47 patents. KAATSU, next-generation equipment and protocols have a unique and unprecedented safety track record with over 20 million individual KAATSU sessions in 48 countries around the globe.
Backed by over 50 years of expertise, KAATSU Global is excited to introduce the latest advancement in health and wellness, the KAATSU Cycle 2.0. Fitting in the palm of your hand or in your pocket, the KAATSU Cycle 2.0 is the most advanced, most portable, easiest-to-use compression device in the world. In combination with a precise algorithm-controlled limb pressure, KAATSU’s narrow elastic bands yield to muscle contractions, providing safe and effective exercise and rehabilitation for users of all ages and from all walks of life. From Olympic champions to disabled individuals.
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KAATSU is used by the United States, the Department of Defense, as well as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. KAATSU, profoundly simple and simply profound. Statements made in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. For more information about KAATSU and KAATSU products, visit KAATSUglobal.com. That’s K-A-A-A-T-S-U-Global.com.