The Effects of a Sub-maximal Exercise Program on Adolescents Who Sustained a Concussion

Boston Children's Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Concussion, Severe; Concussion, Mild; Exertion; Excess; Concussion, Brain

Treatments: Other: Sub-maximal exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03170856

P00024907

Details and patient eligibility

About

Patients who sustain a concussion will undergo a sub-maximal exercise protocol throughout their recovery. Cerebrovascular function, heart rate, and symptom severity, and exercise volume will be monitored throughout.

Full description

There has been recent change to the management of concussion, including the addition of exercise while a patient may still be experiencing symptoms. Some patients will be given a dose-dependent exercise prescription based on their own sub-maximal output. They will aerobically exercise at this given threshold for 8 weeks, while heart rate and symptom duration is tracked. Some patients will only follow physician prescribed exercise, while undergoing the same heart rate and symptom monitoring for 8 weeks.

Enrollment: 41 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 14 to 21 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Experienced a concussion within the last 2 weeks. Concussion will be diagnosed by board-certified sports medicine physicians, and defined as a direct or indirect blow to the head, face, neck, or elsewhere that manifests with the presence of symptoms and neurological impairment
• Low or moderate cardiac risk according to American College of Sports Medicine
• Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) score greater than 9

Exclusion criteria

• History of neurological surgery
• Seizure disorder
• Use of medication or medical device that would alter heart rate, blood pressure or autonomic function
• Any current, serious, chronic medical or psychiatric disease that, in the Principal Investigator's judgment, may interfere with study participation or data integrity
• Unable or unwilling to provide informed consent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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41 participants in 2 patient groups

Exercise Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

Thse patients will undergo a sub-maximal exercise training as treatment for concussion.

Treatment:

Other: Sub-maximal exercise

Usual Care Group

No Intervention group

Description:

These patients will not undergo a sub-maximal exercise training. They will follow the exercise instructions given to them by their physician.