An interventional study of Upper-limb ischemic preconditioning and Sham cuff inflation in Ischemic Preconditioning, sponsored by Kastamonu University. Completed at 1 site in Kazakhstan. Open to male participants aged 17 Years to 21 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-03.
Sponsored by Kastamonu University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether briefly stopping blood flow to the upper arms with inflatable cuffs before exercise (called ischemic preconditioning, or IPC) can improve judo-specific grip and pulling performance in trained junior male judo athletes aged 17 to 19 years. The study will also look at how IPC affects blood pressure, heart rate, hand grip strength, how hard the exercise feels, and muscle soreness.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does IPC help athletes hang longer from a judo jacket (judogi) with bent arms, and do more pull-ups while holding the jacket? Does IPC increase the number of judo pulling movements (hikidashi uchi-komi) an athlete can do in 20 seconds? Does IPC change blood pressure, heart rate, hand grip strength, perceived effort, and muscle soreness before the tests, right after the tests, and after 30 minutes of rest?
Researchers will compare IPC with a sham (fake) cuff treatment to see if IPC improves performance and recovery. In the IPC session, cuffs on both upper arms are inflated to 50 mmHg above the athlete's resting systolic (upper) blood pressure, which briefly stops blood flow to the arms. A finger sensor (pulse oximeter) is used to check that blood flow has stopped. In the sham session, the same cuffs are inflated to only 20 mmHg, which does not block blood flow. Each athlete receives both treatments on different days, in a random order.
Participants will:
Visit the judo training hall 3 times, with 3 days between visits. At the first visit, have their height, body weight, and body composition measured and practice all tests and the cuff procedure.
At the second and third visits, rest while their blood pressure, heart rate, and hand grip strength are measured.
Receive either IPC or the sham treatment: 3 rounds of 5 minutes of cuff inflation followed by 5 minutes of rest, for 30 minutes in total.
Have their blood pressure and heart rate measured again, then do a standard warm-up.
Complete 3 judo tests with 10 minutes of rest between them: hanging from a judo jacket with bent arms for as long as possible, doing as many pull-ups as possible while holding the jacket, and pulling a partner off balance as many times as possible in 20 seconds.
Rate how hard the tests felt and how sore their muscles are, and have their heart rate and hand grip strength measured right after the tests and again after 30 minutes of rest.
Avoid hard exercise, caffeine, and alcohol for 24 hours before each visit, and keep their usual diet and sleep during the study.
545 studies on the registry are indexed under Ischemia; 72 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 13 is below the median of 74 across 356 interventional studies indexed under Ischemia.
Browse Ischemia studies →Kastamonu University is the lead sponsor of 51 studies on the registry; 12 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants received upper-limb ischemic preconditioning (cuffs inflated to 50 mmHg above resting systolic blood pressure) in the first experimental session and the sham procedure (cuffs inflated to 20 mmHg) in the second experimental session, 3 days later. Judo-specific upper-body tests were performed after each intervention.
Procedure: Upper-limb ischemic preconditioning · Procedure: Sham cuff inflation
Participants received the sham procedure (cuffs inflated to 20 mmHg) in the first experimental session and upper-limb ischemic preconditioning (cuffs inflated to 50 mmHg above resting systolic blood pressure) in the second experimental session, 3 days later. Judo-specific upper-body tests were performed after each intervention.
Procedure: Upper-limb ischemic preconditioning · Procedure: Sham cuff inflation
Pneumatic cuffs (9 cm wide) were placed on both upper arms and inflated simultaneously to 50 mmHg above the participant's resting systolic blood pressure for three cycles of 5-min occlusion followed by 5-min reperfusion (30 min in total), with participants seated. Complete arterial occlusion was confirmed by loss of the pulse-oximetry signal on the index finger of each arm. The intervention was applied before the judo-specific tests.
Also known as: IPC; Remote ischemic preconditioning
Identical cuff placement, timing and duration (three cycles of 5 min inflation and 5 min deflation, 30 min in total), but the cuffs were inflated to only 20 mmHg, a pressure that does not restrict arterial or venous blood flow. The procedure was applied before the judo-specific tests.
Also known as: Sham; Placebo cuff inflation
Dynamic Judogi Grip Strength Test
Athletes performed as many complete elbow flexion-extension repetitions as possible while suspended by the judogi, and the number of correctly executed repetitions was recorded.
Time frame: 20 mins post-IPC and Sham
Static Judogi Grip Strength Test
Athletes gripped the lapels of the judogi and remained suspended with the elbows fully flexed for as long as possible; the time (s) until the elbows extended was recorded.
Time frame: 35 mins post-IPC and Sham
Hikidashi uchi-komi test (20 seconds)
The athlete (tori) took a grip on the partner's judogi (e.g., standard sleeve-lapel grip) and, while keeping this grip, pulled the partner forward to break his balance (kuzushi), combining the pull with a partial rotation of the trunk, as in the entry
Time frame: 45 mins post-IPC and Sham
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No — We will share only the results of the study.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Kastamonu University