One of the most interesting devices I saw at last month's Bulletproof Biohacking Conference was a small, electronic tablet attached to what appeared to be narrow blood pressure cuffs. The Ka’atsu Device, which can grow muscle in as little as 10 minutes of use, turns out to have decades of clinical research and use behind it in Japan, where it was originally developed by Dr Yoshiaki Sato.
At 71, Dr Sato, a physician and bodybuilder, has the bulging biceps and youthful looks of a 41-year-old. Sato has been using blood flow restriction techniques for the past 40 years to increase his body's natural production of Growth Hormone to enhance muscle growth, continually refining his Ka’atsu device and protocols for a variety of applications. For those who don’t know, some older biohackers inject themselves monthly with shots of synthetic Growth Hormone to keep their youthful looks and muscles, but take too little and you won’t get results. Conversely, if you take too much, there are negative side effects from the synthetic. The Ka’atsu device cleverly sidesteps this issue by provoking your own body to manufacture Growth Hormone, and, on the principle that the body will never do something to harm itself, it shouldn’t produce an amount that would harm you.
How Kaatsu Works in 10 Minutes
The idea behind Ka’atsu, which just means ‘more pressure’ in Japanese, is simple: use belts around the tops of legs and arms to constrict blood flow back to the heart, which triggers release of lactic acid, which in turn tricks the brain into releasing much higher amounts of growth hormone - similar to the amounts produced during strenuous workouts.
If you'd like to see Dr Sato's biceps and learn more about how the process of blood constriction works to build muscle, watch the following video done using an older Ka’atsu device. In particular, pay attention to the Before and After photos showing how quickly muscle is built after a brief, 10-minute workout session. If you’d like to buy the Ka’atsu yourself, you can get a 15% discount by using the code OXFORD15
John Doolittle, who was tasked with overseeing the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Human Performance Program reporting into and under Admiral McRaven, General Votel and General Thomas at USSOCOM headquarters in Tampa, found working out with Ka'atsu while rehabilitating from surgery to be so effective, that as soon as he retired, he went straight to work at Kaatsu. He's not the only one in the military who is excited about Kaatsu's applications.
Dr Timothy Law, former Army physician and current Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Geriatric Medicine at Ohio University's Muscoloskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI), test-drove Ka’atsu for 10 days and saw phenomenal personal results.
"I work out a lot. I normally bench press 350 pounds. After 10 days of doing Kaatsu for only about 10 minutes a day, I added 10 pounds to my max bench press — without even using a spotter."
"All the hours I've spent in the gym and, wow, these kind of results after only 10 minutes. It's pretty cool." Dr Timothy Law, former Army medic, Assistant Professor, Ohio University & Ka'atsu user
Elite Athletes Use Kaatsu Around the World
Today, Ka’atsu is used by Olympic athletes in the US, Japan and Switzerland, the NFL, NBA, MBL, NHL and a whole host of other pro and amateur athletic teams ranging from skiing, golf and swimming.
“It’s the most revolutionary training methodology I’ve ever seen.” 6-time Olympic Medalist, Skiing, Bode Miller.
"I really believe that Kaatsu is the future of not only swimming but any endurance or strength sport." Chris Morgan, former Swiss Olympic Swim Team coach
Standard Treatment for Those with Chronic Disease & the Elderly?
But the Ka’atsu bands and device are also used by patients with limited mobility looking to restore lost muscle and tone. Decades of studies in Japan with the elderly prove efficacy there.
But when the medics themselves use a technique to solve their own health issues, I pay attention. In this case, Harvard Medical School Professor, Peter Lansbury, successfully treated his own arthritic elbow using Ka’atsu over a 3-month period to restore range of motion and muscle to his arm.
I think it's safe to say that when the medical experts themselves use a particular technique or device to solve their own problems, the rest of us would like to 'have what they're having,'
Exercises done with the Ka’atsu pneumatic belts are incredibly simple. When I tested it out, I was told to just open and close my fists, raise my arms and do bicep curls without any weights at all. In fact, the exercises are so easy that even those confined to wheelchairs and suffering some mild paralysis can do them. An adviser to the University of Oxford Pediatrics Dept from Japan told me that he had successfully used Ka’atsu in a gym setting in Japan over several years and had seen them used with rehabilitation of the elderly. Research conducted in Japan has also shown that Ka’atsu can even increase muscle in patients as old as 104.
Me with John Doolittle, ex-Navy SEAL, and now Kaatsu expert and executive.
A Fit for the NHS?
When I first saw Ka’atsu, I immediately thought of the many wheelchair-bound patients I meet in the hyperbaric chamber at the Oxfordshire MS Society Therapy Centre. Could this be a simple and effective way of regrowing muscle tissue? Here in the UK, most patients rely on the National Health Service to diagnose, prescribe and fund medical treatments. Might it be possible for GP surgeries to have Ka’atsu machines on premises for patients to use in the way that many larger surgeries now have in-house blood pressure monitoring equipment which patients use on a self-serve basis? Alternatively, might patient organisations such as the MS Society Therapy Centres be able to incorporate Ka’atsu in their centres?
Ka’atsu devices aren't cheap at around US$2,500 (~GBP1900 excl VAT), but given treatments only take 10 minutes, it might be possible for 50-60 patients to use the machine per day assuming a GP surgery is open from 8am until 6pm. Even if you only had 10 patients in per day over 20 workdays in a month, you would bring the per patient cost down to under 80p in one year - much cheaper than getting them to a gym or the fixed and ongoing costs associated with a physio clinic. So a relatively high and quick ROI. And for those biohackers who are injecting themselves monthly with Growth Hormone, the payoff is in 1 month since Growth Hormone injections cost around $1,000-2,000 per month.
Hair & Beauty Applications?
Harvard Med School's Lansbury also noted a curious and unexpected result from Kaatsu: his nails grew faster. The reason for this is down to the increase in circulating Growth Hormone when you do Ka’atsu, which can also result in increased hair growth. Should we be looking to Ka’atsu as a Rogain replacement for men or on beauty shelves for pre- and post-menopausal women suffering from thinning hair and nails? Given the growing population of Baby Boomers looking to retain their youthful looks, I wouldn't be surprised at all.
If you would like to buy your own Ka’atsu device, you can use the code OXFORD15 for a 15% discount. I will get a small referral fee from this, but it is truly one of my all-time favorite ‘hacks’ and I always travel with my Ka’atsu arm bands and pump - that’s how much I love it!
BONE RE-GROWTH at AGE 80
Update: I also gave it to my Mom during Covid when she broke her kneecap and her orthopaedic surgeon told her she would need surgery to staple the two broken halves of her kneecap back together as they were over 2mm apart. She was obviously keen to avoid a hospital during Covid, so she used Ka’atsu, Vitamins D, K2, calcium, Primeadine spermidine and liters of water she had boiled overnight with turmeric and ginger roots. At age 80, her plates grew back together naturally within 2 months without surgery. Her orthopaedic surgeon, who was the team surgeon to the Cleveland Cavaliers, was stunned.!
If you’d like to see the phenomenal results you can get with Ka’atsu and bone, muscle, tendon and ligament regrowth and repair, I highly recommend you look at this video of 6-time US Olympic Skier, Todd Lodwick, who had a major wipeout in the Giant Slalom (where you throw yourself off the side of a mountain face) 6 weeks before his 6th and last Olympics in Sochi, South Korea in 2014. He had 6 breaks to his left arm and his physicians and coaches recommended surgery with metal pins. Todd knew this would mean 6 months of recovery before he could even begin to train again and missing the final Olympics of his ski career. He asked his coach, Dr Jim Stray-Gunderson, if there was anything else he could do - classic ‘out of the box thinking’ - and Stray-Gunderson suggested Ka’atsu.
The video shows his wipeout and recovery, where he immobilized his left arm but had the Ka’atsu bands on this other limbs while he emulated the motions used in his two sports, slalom and Nordic skiing. He had x-rays throughout to capture his recovery. The end result? Todd was at Sochi and competed in both of his main events. He was also the Olympic team’s flag bearer, holding the American flag in BOTH hands just to tease his coach, Stray-Gunderson. Todd didn’t medal, but he did come 6th in the Nordic team combined event. The fact he was even able to compete is truly remarkable.
References
For a list of research studies conducted on Kaatsu and published in peer-reviewed journals around the world, please see : https://www.kaatsu-global.com/kaatsu-research-studies/
UK Kaatsu Trainers
If you'd like to try Kaatsu out for yourself in the UK, you can contact Hammond Physio in Poole, Dorset, or you might get lucky and be allowed to use the devices owned by trainers at England Rugby, Leicester Tigers or Swindon Town FC.