Crack In The Calcaneus, Healing With KAATSU

Olympic swim coach Chris Morgan fractured his right calcaneus bone (heel) while unceremoniously falling from a height of 15 feet right on a concrete step.

"In the emergency room, the doctor said to me, 'Oh that must be so painful. You cracked 75% of heel.' He was right. But I knew that I had to start rehabbing with KAATSU as soon as I got home," Morgan recalled. "I did the same rehab doing KAATSU when I cracked my ribs during a mud run. The doctors and x-ray technicians at Harvard where I was coaching at the time could not believe how fast my ribs healed. Every since that time, I have been a huge KAATSU believer."

Morgan was given a boot, crunches and pain medications and told not to walk or apply pressure on the healing bone until he cleared him. "It was painful and there is no way to walk on it, but I could sit up and do KAATSU the original BFR on my arms and legs."

Morgan's rehabilitation includes two separate KAATSU sessions per day: a morning session and an evening session where he does several KAATSU Cycles on both his arms and legs.

Morning KAATSU Session:
* 3-6 KAATSU Cycle sets on arms doing the KAATSU 3-point exercises (Hand Clenches + Biceps Curls + Triceps Extensions), performed slowly and steadily without weights or resistance bands

* 3-6 KAATSU Cycle sets on legs while contracting the quadriceps and hamstrings and doing leg extensions while sitting, performed slowly and steadily

Evening KAATSU Session (ideally 1 hour before bedtime:
* 2-3 KAATSU Cycle sets on arms doing the KAATSU 3-point exercises (Hand Clenches + Biceps Curls + Triceps Extensions), performed slowly and steadily without weights or resistance bands
* 2-6 KAATSU Cycle sets on legs while relaxing and doing simple movements and stretching while sitting

Morgan explained his belief in KAATSU, "Dr. Sato [the KAATSU inventor] taught me that the more strongly muscle is exercised, the stronger the bones become. In other words, when there is less mechanical stress on our bones when you are bedridden or unable to move a body part that is in a cast or boot, the calcium that is stored in the bones is dissolved into your bloodstream, thus reducing bone strength.

We know through research that KAATSU changes - improves - levels of bone metabolic markers like BAP (bone alkali phosphatase). This research tells us that KAATSU elicits an acute response to suppress bone resorption and elicits a chronic effect in terms of encouraging bone formation - which was one reason why I believe my ribs healed so quickly and I expect my cracked heel will heal more quickly than my doctor expects.

The doctor told me to be off my injured foot for 6 weeks. I plan to be healed enough to start some walking within 2 weeks with KAATSU."

Podiatrist Dr. Lyle Nalli explains, "The calcaneus is the most vascular bone in the foot and can crack easily, but with its thin cortex and sparse inner bone pattern, can heal the fastest off all the foot bones. KAATSU, as it regulates blood flow, etc., speeds up the bone's healing rate."

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