Research on KAATSU has ranged from equine subjects to human athletes and has included mice, rats, goats and people of various ages. Research has been conducted at the University of Tokyo Hospital and Osaka University in Japan, at Peking University and Jilin University in China, at the Harvard Medical School and University of Missouri in the United States, at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo, Brazil, and many other universities and academic research institutions.
The photos above show Chinese scientists attaching regular KAATSU Air Bands on the hind legs of goats in northern China under the auspices of China's State General Administration of Sports, the government agency responsible for sports in China that also administers the Chinese Olympic Committee.
In the United States, Dr. James Stray-Gundersen, Chief Medical Officer of KAATSU Global, is leading the research direction and activities of KAATSU in a variety of applications and areas. At the SG Performance Medicine Center and Sport Technologies in the United States Ski & Snowboard Association's Center of Excellence in Park City, Dr. Stray-Gundersen first used a variety of equipment to monitor the effects of KAATSU on athletes.
His tools included the First Beat Body Guard (heart rate monitor and accelerometer), MOXY Near Infrared Spectroscopy (SmO2 and muscle oxygen saturation), Sonosite MicroMaxx Doppler Ultrasound (arterial and venous blood flow), and Nelcor Pulse Oximeter (SpO2 and arterial oxygen saturation) [shown on left].
He first presented his findings in Tokyo, Japan at the 10th KAATSU International Symposium at the University of Tokyo.
He then presented his work and recommendations in London, England at the Elite Sports Expo.
Dr. Stray-Gundersen will present his latest findings and mechanism of KAATSU at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at the Harvard Medical School on November 5th - 6th at the KAATSU Symposium in Boston.
For more information on the KAATSU Symposium, visit the KAATSU website.
Since 2013, Dr. Stray-Gundersen has gained experience from thousands of sessions in hundreds of clients encompassing people of both genders, from 9-90 years of age, levels of fitness from Olympians to sedentary, with a wide variety of musculo-skeletal problems that are aided by KAATSU Training.
Dr. Stray-Gundersen received his Board Certification in General Surgery in 1985. He then completed Post Doctoral Fellowships in Cardiovascular Physiology and Human Nutrition at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UTSW) where he received appointments as Assistant Professor in the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery, and Cardiology. While on faculty, over 20 years at UTSW, Dr. Stray-Gundersen conducted research and built and directed two World Class Human Performance Centers associated with leading hospitals, St. Paul and Baylor. Dr. Stray-Gundersen’s primary interest and area of research is human performance, the physiology of health and fitness/wellness through exercise prescription, markers of overtraining, nutrition as it applies to performance and health, altitude acclimatization and training (pioneered Live Hi/Train Low), and anti doping (developed anti doping test SAFE – Safe and Fair Events).
Since 1984, Dr Stray-Gundersen has worked with numerous Olympians in various sport disciplines advising on training for Maximal Human Performance and has an ongoing relationship with the great runner and director of the NIKE Oregon Project, Alberto Salazar. Dr. Stray-Gundersen has been active in the fight against doping, particularly, blood doping.
He, along with colleagues Dr. Tapio Videman and Dr. Ingaard Lereim, they performed the the first non-invasive anti-blood doping testing at the 1989 World Championships in Lahti, Finland and his work continued with the development and implementation of the SAFE Test — Safe and Fair Events — which was the precursor for the Hematologic passport, considered by some to have minimized the extent and magnitude of blood doping in International Sport.
He has been an official physician/consultant/staff of United States, Norwegian, and Canadian Olympic Teams, and an official staff member of numerous World Championships in the sports of cross country skiing, nordic combined, ski jumping, alpine skiing, speed skating, biathlon, track and field, road cycling and swimming.
Dr Stray-Gundersen has served and consulted for many International Medical Committees that include the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Football Federation (FIFA), International Biathlon Committee (IBU), International Ski Federation (FIS), and the International Skating Union (ISU). He has worked with the World Anti Doping Association (WADA) and the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA). Dr. Stray-Gundersen is the Sports Science Advisor for the US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), and continues to lead Human Performance and Altitude Camps for Olympic Athletes, Masters Athletes, as well as Navy SEALs to optimize performance.
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