Brain Injury, Concussion
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the study was to determine if administration of an exercise stress test within the first ten days after a sports related concussion would delay or otherwise interfere with recovery.
Detailed description
The purpose of the study was to determine if administration of an exercise stress test within the first ten days after a sports related concussion would delay or otherwise interfere with recovery. All participants were adolescents injured while playing sports. All concussions were confirmed by an experienced sports medicine physician before random assignment of the participant to receive the treadmill test to determine exercise intolerance or not. Recovery was defined as (a) return to asymptomatic state; (b) ability to exercise to exhaustion without exacerbation of symptoms and (c) confirmation of recovery by a physician who is blinded to the assignment and to results of exercise testing. Symptoms were self reported on a daily basis using an online data record. Regardless of recovery rate all participants were assessed at two weeks following their first clinic visit. At the second visit all subjects, regardless of group assignment were assessed on ImPACT, and the treadmill based exercise stress test. Individuals who were not recovered by the second visit were followed until recovered no matter how long that took. Analysis of data examined recovery rates of the two groups of adolescents to determine whether use of a exercise stress test early after concussion caused any adverse events or interfered in any way with recovery.
Interventions
OTHERExercise stress test (BCTT)
Participants are assessed for exercise tolerance using a treadmill with gradually increasing angle to increase workload. Stress test is stopped when there is symptom exacerbation or when participant experiences voluntary exhaustion.
Sponsors
University at Buffalo
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
14 Years to 19 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Adolescents with sports related concussion that appear for their first clinic visit within 10 days of injury
Exclusion criteria
* Evidence of focal neurologic deficit; * inability to exercise due to orthopaedic injury; * diabetes or known heart disease; increased cardiac risk; ADHD; depression; anxiety; history of moderate or severe brain injury; more than 3 prior concussions; * inability to understand spoken English.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Time to Full Recovery | 2-168 days | Asymptomatic; Able to exercise to exhaustion without exacerbation of symptoms, confirmed by examination of a physician blinded to results |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed