Effects of blood flow restriction training in adult upper-limb musculoskeletal rehabilitation: A systematic review

Blood flow restriction training (BFRT) has been proposed as a low-load rehabilitation strategy for symptomatic and postoperative upper-limb musculoskeletal conditions. This review evaluated the clinical effects, tolerability, and prescription characteristics of BFRT in adult upper-limb musculoskeletal rehabilitation.

This systematic review was registered in International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD420261299726) and reported with reference to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020. CENTRAL/Cochrane Library, Embase via Ovid, MEDLINE/PubMed, Science Citation Index/Web of Science, and Scopus were searched without a start-date restriction before February 18, 2026; backward reference-list/citation checking was also used. Randomized trials, case series, and case reports were eligible. Findings were synthesized narratively because of heterogeneity, and studies were appraised using risk of bias 2 or design-appropriate Joanna Briggs Institute checklists.