Naked Occlusion Training – The Next Thing!
Oh wait, what did you think I meant?
Our objective is to “expose” or “lay bare” the basic building blocks of occlusion science that are often obscured by minutiae, complicated assessments, subjective algorithms, and frankly expensive time-consuming equipment.
Let’s take one of our favorites to start: Using arterial occlusion pressure (AOP) as a predictor of full venous occlusion. Now, this is a subject that I could write a book about, but let’s take it a single factor at a time. (More later)
First - Body Position.
AOP is usually measured manually or automatically in a seated position. That number is then multiplied by some percentage (we will address this later) to arrive at an initial occlusion.
How will body position change the calculation?
A study in PMC Central, titled “Influence and reliability of lower-limb arterial occlusion pressure at different body positions”, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5936068/ found the following measurements based on body position during measurement (all in mmHg):
Supine: 187 +/- 32.5, (154.5 to 219.5)
Seated: 204 +/- 28.5 (175.5 to 232.5)
Standing: 241.5 +/- 49.3 (192.2 to 290.8)
If you were using, say, 50% of AOP, then the automated, exact, algorithm-generated, super accurate initial setting could be from 77 mmHg up to 145 mmHg based on body position (and that is using an 11.5 cm, 4.5” width pneumatic contoured cuff!). How exact is that? Exactly!
As Tommy Boy would say, “Holy Schinkes!” both about the range and the standard deviation!
However, that is only one factor out of more than ten!
Before you spend the money and commit to the time required for equipment that autogenerates or measures AOP, consider the benefit. In reality, what you are getting is an exact measurement that is +/- 50% accurate with a standard deviation between 13% and 20%. Hardly worth the time of money.
And if you sell or own one of those cuffs, feel free to comment or call. But first, you better do a little research about the science and the basics. Or just admit, the number you tout as precise, is basically randomly generated and within an acceptable range of error that still delivers results.
Also, checkup on what happens to your AOP when you exert effort like in an exercise, check out the origins of AOP (surgery), how cell swelling and muscle contraction will affect pressure under the cuff, manufacturing accuracy, placement accuracy, operator accuracy, materials, construction type, cuff relative efficiency compared to actual measured width.
We can discuss all of those or you can continue to just ignore them.
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