Aerobic Exercise and Cognitive Training Effects on Postconcussive Symptomology

Summary

The purpose of this study is to compare a 4-week, moderately intensive, lab and home-based aerobic exercise program versus exercise plus cognitive training. Participants will include individuals who experience lingering symptoms of a head injury or concussion.

Conditions

• Post-Concussion Syndrome
• Post-Traumatic Headache
• Post-Concussive Syndrome, Chronic
• Head Injury
• MTBI - Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
• Acquired Brain Injury
• Closed Head Injury

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise+CT

The exercise+CT group is asked to participate in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise followed by a 20-minute cognitive training (CT) program that targets attention and memory. Training will take place following exercise due to elevated levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and increased arousal, which is theorized to benefit cognitive task performance. Computerized CT exercises will be delivered using participants' smartphone. Adherence to the computerized CT program is monitored using electronic data upload after each training session. Participants are asked to engage in three sessions per week with the first week taking place in a lab-setting. Participants are asked to continue the aerobic exercise and CT program at home for the subsequent three weeks.

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise only

The exercise only group will receive the same exercise prescription as the exercise+CT group. Participants in this group are asked to watch 20 minutes of health-related educational videos post-exercise. Videos are administered via participants' smartphones. After each video session, participants answer multiple-choice questions that assess engagement. Following the first week of treatment in-lab, participants are asked to continue watching health-related videos, post-exercise, for three weeks at home.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sean P Mullen, PhD · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Daniel Palac, MA · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-10-01

Primary Completion

2019-05-03

Completion

2019-05-03

Countries

• United States

Study Locations