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. 2023 Dec 20:17:1307507.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1307507. eCollection 2023.

Brain changes: aerobic exercise for traumatic brain injury rehabilitation

Taylor Snowden  1 , Jamie Morrison  1 , Meike Boerstra  1 , Eric Eyolfson  1 , Crystal Acosta  1 , Erin Grafe  1 , Hannah Reid  1 , Justin Brand  1 , Matthew Galati  2 , Judith Gargaro  3 , Brian R Christie  1   4
Affiliations

Brain changes: aerobic exercise for traumatic brain injury rehabilitation

Taylor Snowden et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Introduction: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) accounts for millions of hospitalizations and deaths worldwide. Aerobic exercise is an easily implementable, non-pharmacological intervention to treat TBI, however, there are no clear guidelines for how to best implement aerobic exercise treatment for TBI survivors across age and injury severity.

Methods: We conducted a PRISMA-ScR to examine research on exercise interventions following TBI in children, youth and adults, spanning mild to severe TBI. Three electronic databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) were searched systematically by two authors, using keywords delineated from "Traumatic Brain Injury," "Aerobic Exercise," and "Intervention."

Results: Of the 415 papers originally identified from the search terms, 54 papers met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The papers were first grouped by participants' injury severity, and subdivided based on age at intervention, and time since injury where appropriate.

Discussion: Aerobic exercise is a promising intervention for adolescent and adult TBI survivors, regardless of injury severity. However, research examining the benefits of post-injury aerobic exercise for children and older adults is lacking.

Keywords: TBI intervention; aerobic exercise; aerobic intervention; concussion; traumatic brain injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Selection of sources of evidence. The authors started with 415 papers. Following systematic duplication removal, screening, and eligibility assessment 54 papers were included in this review.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
A summary of results across age within the included articles. A majority of studies focussed on adults (aged 19–64), and the remaining studies focussed on adolescents (aged 12–18). 57% of studies solely examined mild traumatic brain injury.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
A proposed schematic of negative plasticity following traumatic brain injury. Arrow thickness indicates the proposed impact of intervention within that timeframe.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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