Effect of Aerobic Exercise Training on Cardiorespiratory Function in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury

Summary

Background:

\- Many people who have traumatic brain injury (TBI) have low levels of physical fitness. Low physical fitness causes severe fatigue that reduces the ability to perform routine daily activities, and may also cause increased depression, anxiety, or sadness. Aerobic exercise, such as treadmill walking or running, improves physical fitness in most people and may also decrease fatigue and improve mood. However, more information is needed to determine if exercise improves these conditions in people who have TBI.

Objectives:

\- To examine the effect of an aerobic treadmill walking exercise program on physical fitness, fatigue, and mood in people with TBI.

Eligibility:

\- Individuals between 21 and 45 years of age who had a nonpenetrating traumatic brain injury at least 6 months before participating; able to understand oral and written English language, give informed consent and sign a consent form; are physically inactive (including activities related to both job and recreation); and are able to stand and walk on a treadmill safely without help.

Design:

* This study requires 4 testing visits and 36 exercise visits over 14 weeks.
* The first and third testing visits will last about 4 hours and the second and final testing visits will take about 2 hours.
* Testing visits will consist of a medical history and physical examination, completion of questionnaires (about fatigue, daily physical activity, sleep quality, mood, and overall quality of life), tests of thinking and a treadmill exercise test.
* Participants will have treadmill exercise training 3 days per week for 12 weeks. Each session includes a check-in, warm-up, treadmill walking at the training heart rate, and cool-down. Thirty-two of the sessions will last for about 1 hour, and four of the sessions will include questionnaires to fill out and will last about one-and-a-half hours.
* After completing the exercise training program, participants will have a final testing visit to complete the questionnaires (about fatigue, daily physical activity, sleep quality, mood, and overall quality of life), tests of thinking and a treadmill exercise test.

Conditions

• Exercise
• Fatigue
• Physical Fitness
• Traumatic Brain Injury

Interventions

OTHER

Aerobic Exercise Training

supervised exercise on the treadmill at target heart rate range for 12 weeks, 3 times a week for 30 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM)

  collaborator FED

• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

  lead NIH

Principal Investigators

• Leighton Chan, M.D. · National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-05-26

Primary Completion

2013-12-31

Completion

2014-02-11

Countries

• United States

Study Locations