What is ECP Therapy?
External Counterpulsation (ECP) Therapy is a non-invasive, clinically studied therapy designed to support healthy circulation. It uses a series of pressure cuffs placed around the legs that inflate and deflate in a sequence timed to your heartbeat. ECP Therapy is sometimes referred to as EECP (Enhanced External Counterpulsation Therapy).
This timing is designed to support blood flow back toward the heart during the heart’s relaxation phase, and reduce resistance when the heart pumps again. The goal is to support circulation efficiency and cardiovascular function without surgery or medication.
How ECP Therapy may support rehabilitation
ECP Therapy is also used as a supportive tool within rehabilitation plans, where appropriate. By supporting circulation and overall recovery capacity, it may help some people tolerate rehabilitation better and progress more consistently through a graded return to activity or work plan.
For some clients, improved circulation support may also be relevant when dealing with fluid retention associated with injury and reduced movement.
What a session is like?
Sessions are non-invasive and generally relaxing. You lie comfortably while the cuffs inflate and deflate in a repeating rhythm. Your team monitors you throughout and can adjust settings to support comfort and safety.
Who may consider ECP Therapy
ECP Therapy may be considered by people who want support with:
- Heart disease, chronic stable angina, and cardiovascular conditions
- Circulation and cardiovascular function
- Fatigue and reduced exercise tolerance or functional capacity
- Rehabilitation support as part of a structured injury management plan (pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation, chronic pain, and sports injuries), where clinically appropriate
The best place to start is a consultation.
We will explain how ECP Therapy works, review suitability and contraindications, and outline what a programme could look like for you. For more on the research behind ECP Therapy, see our Clinical Studies page.
How does ECP Therapy work?
The ECP Therapy treatment gently but firmly compresses the blood vessels in the lower limbs to increase blood flow to your heart. Each wave of pressure is electronically timed to the heartbeat, so that the increased blood flow is delivered to your heart at the precise moment it is relaxing. When the heart pumps again, pressure is released instantaneously. This lowers resistance in the blood vessels in the legs so that blood may be pumped more easily from your heart.
ECP Therapy may encourage blood vessels to open small channels that become extra branches. These channels or collaterals may eventually become “natural bypass” vessels to provide blood flow to heart muscle. This contributes to the relief of heart disease and cardiovascular symptoms.
Benefits of ECP Therapy
- Heart Disease Prevention
- Strengthens Heart
- Reduces blood pressure
- Increases Circulation
- Improvement in oxygen consumption (VO2)
- Strengthens the heart muscle by reviving parts of the heart that have hibernated from lack of blood flow
- Improvement in sexual function for men
- Increase in perfusion creates natural bypasses around narrowed arteries in the heart as well as other organs such as the lungs, kidneys, liver & the brain
- Regression of atherosclerosis
- Promotion of Collateralization
- Reduction in Angina & Heart Failure symptoms & classifications
- Decrease Medication
- Improvement in ventricular function
- Increase in cardiac output
- Decrease in cardiac workload
- Release in growth factors
- Reduction in Angina & Heart Failure symptoms & classifications
- Decrease Medication
- Sustainable Increase in Coronary Perfusion
- Sustainable relief of symptoms related to Ischemic Heart disease
- Decrease workload of the heart
- Retrograde Arterial Flow (Shear Stress) increases endothelial function
- Peripheral Training effects (similar to exercise)
- Cardiac Remodelling (stunned & hibernated myocardium)
- Assisting blood flow and circulation to tissues
- Supporting the body’s natural healing and recovery process
- May assist with muscle recovery and rehabilitation