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By Kate Hunger 

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Gustavo Almeida, PT, Ph.D., has been selected to be a mentee of the Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research (TIGGRR) 2020. 

The four-day intensive grant-writing workshop and mentorship program will be held at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C., from Jan. 7–11. 

Almeida will be seeking feedback on his funding application to the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging for the study of blood flow restriction training during prehab in people with end-stage knee osteoarthritis prior to total knee replacement surgery.

“The main idea is that if their muscles are well prepared before surgery, the chances are all the post-surgery complications will be minimized or eliminated, which would decrease revisions and hospital readmissions,” Almeida said. 

Blood flow restriction allows patients to perform exercises using a lighter load while still achieving the same impact on their muscles.

“That’s promising because people with end-stage knee osteoarthritis can’t take too much load on their joints,” he said.