Why does the occlusion last 5 minutes?
Five minutes is the optimal time needed to generate the forced stimulus response of the blood rushing through the vessels in response to an occlusion. Faizi et al. (4) tested the effects of varying occlusion durations as well as the effects of occlusion location in 30 apparently healthy adult volunteers. When comparing different occlusion times (1.5, 3, 5 and 8 minutes) with the cuff placed on the forearm, they saw that the effective maximal response was reached at 5 minutes. The occlusions shorter than 5 minutes had significantly lower responses. The response to a 5 minute occlusion did not differ significantly from 8 minutes, but caused less discomfort.
