Sriya s's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: A Comparison of the Effects of Blood Flow Restriction Therapy on Elderly Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients with Osteoarthritis versus Rheumatoid Arthritis.
BASIS Advisor: Dr. Travis May
Internship Location: OrthoArizona Therapy and Athletic Performance
Onsite Mentor: Dr. Jordan Chandler



Project Abstract

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a surgery used to reduce pain in patients debilitated with osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and related conditions, significantly improves patient quality of life1. It must be followed by intensive physical therapy, or patients may permanently lose range of motion due to a loss of postoperative muscle strength. However, elderly populations struggle under high-intensity exercises used for recovery, which place increased strain on joints and can cause further injury. Blood flow restriction therapy (BFRT) provides a potential solution to this problem. Because it limits blood flow to the area and thereby oxygen intake of muscle cells, BFRT makes the exercise more difficult to perform, but without the metabolic strain. Though BFRT is widely found useful, there has been little analysis comparing the effects of BFRT for RA versus OA. By conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis, this research project aims to determine if BFRT is less effective for either RA or OA. If so, then BFRT therapies can be augmented or alternatives further researched, thereby improving patient outcomes and quality of life. By interning at an OrthoArizona physical therapy location, I can personally observe the benefits of BFRT and witness firsthand its application for treating TKA patients as well.

    My Posts:

  • Implications and Future Directions

    Hello, everyone. Welcome to my final blog post! This week, I aim to discuss some implications and future directions of my study. Because BFRT proved to be more useful for treating OA than RA for quadriceps and hamstring strength building (as indicated by leg press test) and reducing pain (as indicated by VAS Pain Scale... Read More

  • The Big Reveal!

    Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. Today is finally the day I reveal the results of my experiment. First, a quick recap.  I conducted a meta-analysis to compare the effectiveness of BFRT for OA (osteoarthritis) versus RA (rheumatoid arthritis), including total knee replacements (TKAs) that were completed for each procedure. I compared the data... Read More

  • My Project…in Review

    Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. This week, I wanted to outline how my project has proceeded and share a little bit of the statistics. I ended up amassing 164 sources from my title screening. This included 144 sources found from 3 databases: 57 from EBSCO (a research database provided through College Board), 62... Read More

  • Let’s Discuss Alternatives!

    Hello everyone! I've fully delved into my data collection process and am excited to determine whether or not BFRT is more useful for OA, RA, or equally effective! See next week for updates on that portion. This week, I wanted to discuss an important aspect of my project... why would these results matter? Well, if... Read More

  • Evals: They’re Essential!

    Hello everyone! My full-text screening has been proceeding fairly smoothly. I predict that around 8-12 sources will end up being used in my study, meaning they will be the ones the data will be extracted from. See next week's post for updates on that portion! This week, I wanted to talk a little bit about... Read More

  • Corn-ucopias and a Continued Abstract Screening

    This week, I continued my abstract screening. Like I detailed last week, an abstract screening definitely narrows down your available source list significantly, but I'm confident I'll still have at least 20 sources for full-text screening. When I've compared the process of my meta-analysis to others in the field, I see similar amounts of studies,... Read More

  • A Physical Therapist’s Notes and the Wonders of an Abstract Screening

    Hello everyone! For this (slightly belated) post of what I accomplished this week, I was finally able to proceed onto the abstract screening portion of my systematic review and meta-analysis. Once I started looking at the sources beyond the simple title screening, it becomes clear a lot don't fit the criteria: whether it be not... Read More

  • Spring Break Week!

    Thank you for visiting my blog- see the blog on March 16 for updates to my project following this short break! Read More

  • Research and Roundtables

    This week, I continued to work on finding sources for my systematic review and meta-analysis. I had planned to find 100 more sources from databases like EBSCO and JSTOR, but I unfortunately wasn't able to dedicate as much time as I would have liked to this search; I found around 50 more. I'll make up... Read More

  • The Power of Blood Flow Restriction Therapy

    This week, I started amassing sources for use in my research project. By utilizing various different search terms on the databases EBSCO and JSTOR, I was able to compile around 100 sources that successfully underwent title screening. Some of the search terms I used included “total knee replacement”, “total knee arthroplasty”, “blood flow restriction therapy”,... Read More

  • On the Road to a Meta-analysis: Methodology

    This past week, I  worked on solidifying my methodology and preparing to conduct my experiment. I started by comparing my current plan to the PRISMA checklist, the industry standard for conducting a meta-analysis. I finalized the PICOS format to address the criteria for my meta-analysis. It is as follows–population: elderly TKA or OA/RA knee patients,... Read More