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Rheumatology

Combining Electrical Muscle Stimulation with Blood Flow Restriction Training Can Increase Muscle Strength in Knee OA

Oct 17, 2025

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AT A GLANCE

A new study published in Scientific Reports found that combining blood flow restriction training (BFRT) with electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) improves muscle strength in football players with knee osteoarthritis (KOA).1

“The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of combining BFRT with EMS on muscle functions and sports performance in football players with KOA,” explain study authors Yang et al.

As part of a parallel randomized controlled trial, 64 football players diagnosed with KOA at Chengdu Sport University were enrolled and randomly allocated to four groups: the control group (CTR, n = 16), BFRT-alone group (BFRT, n = 16), EMS-alone group (EMS, n = 16), and BFRT combined with EMS group (CMB, n = 16). Participants were asked to complete the 10-meter sprint, 20-meter sprint, counter-movement jump (CMJ), and Illinois agility test (IAT) for data collection. In addition, peak torque (PT) was used to measure muscle strength, the root mean square (RMS) was used to assess muscle activation, and the cross-sectional area (CSA) was used to evaluate muscle volume.

Following the 8-week intervention, the CMB group demonstrated a more pronounced change in the 10-m sprint compared to the CTR group and showed significant differences in the 20-m sprint, CMJ, and IAT examinations, outperforming the other three groups. The CMB group also demonstrated significant superiority over the other three groups in PT, while the BFRT group exhibited a notable difference in PT compared to the EMS group.

Considering RMS, the EMS and CMB groups showed significant differences from the CTR and BFRT groups, whereas the change in the BFRT group was more significant than that in the CTR group.

Finally, CSA analysis showed that the BFRT and CMB groups presented notable differences from the CTR and EMS groups.

“In summary, the results suggest that BFRT combined with EMS can increase muscle strength in male football players with KOA through improving muscle volume and neuromuscular recruitment under low-intensity resistance training, thereby increasing explosive power and agility,” conclude the authors.

Reference

1.     Yang J, Li N, He S, et al. Effects of blood flow restriction combined with electrical stimulation on muscle functions and performance in university football players with knee osteoarthritis. Sci Rep.2025;15(1):34590.