Even though men and women, or different cuff sizes, cause different amounts of muscle swelling in absolute terms, when you adjust for how big the muscle was to start with, everyone swells about the same — so if swelling is what triggers muscle growth, these differences might not matter.
Scientific Claim
The acute muscle swelling response to blood flow-restricted exercise does not differ meaningfully between sexes or cuff widths when expressed as a percentage change, suggesting these factors may not differentially influence adaptations if swelling is a key trigger.
Original Statement
“Expressed as a percentage change, there were no longer differences between cuffs (Narrow: 15% vs. Wide: 14%) or sex (Men: 14% vs. Women: 15%)... If the acute muscle swelling response is important for initiating long term adaptation, then our results indicate that neither cuff width, sex, nor applied pressure will differentially impact the adaptation observed via this mechanism.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
overstated
Study Design Support
Design cannot support claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The claim extrapolates to long-term adaptation, which the study design cannot assess. The abstract uses speculative language ('if... then...') but presents it as a conclusion. Verb strength must be reduced to association.
More Accurate Statement
“Percentage change in acute muscle swelling during blood flow-restricted exercise shows no meaningful difference between sexes or cuff widths, suggesting these factors may not be differentially associated with adaptations if swelling is a key mechanism.”
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Even though men and women, or narrow and wide cuffs, caused different amounts of muscle swelling in absolute terms, when you look at how much swelling increased relative to the starting size, everyone had about the same percentage increase—so sex and cuff width don’t really change the swelling response in a meaningful way.