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- Do physical interventions improve outcomes following…
Do physical interventions improve outcomes following concussion: a systematic review and meta-analysis?
Key Points
- Physical interventions such as sub-threshold aerobic exercise showed a small to moderate effect on reducing symptoms in individuals with acute and persistent concussion symptom presentation.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE
Aerobic exercise has a positive effect on autonomic nervous system regulation which may be helpful to address the transient cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction present during the acute and sub-acute phases following concussion (1-3). Approximately 30% of children and adolescents present with concussion symptoms even one month after the initial injury (4). There is a lack of clear practice guidelines that address the various deficits and symptoms after a concussion.
This systematic review had two main aims. Firstly, to assess the individual effect of subthreshold aerobic exercise, cervical therapy, vestibular or oculomotor therapy in the management of acute and persistent presentation of concussion; and secondly, to assess the effect of these therapies as individually-tailored, presentation-specific multimodal interventions for acute and persistent concussion presentations
This paper provides evidence to support safely initiating physical activity using subthreshold aerobic exercise at 80-90% of heart rate.
METHODS
- This review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Studies were selected by screening six electronic databases and reference lists of included studies.