Adolescent athletes who experience a sports-related concussion have fewer lingering symptoms after participating in a symptom-limited aerobic exercise program, according to new data.
In a study, “Aerobic Exercise for Sport-related Concussion: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” published in the December 2020 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the researchers conducted a systematic review on the benefits of aerobic exercise in this cohort.
About 25% of people with sport-related concussion have lingering symptoms. The 2016 Berlin consensus on sports-related concussion recommends symptoms-limited aerobic exercise as a rehabilitation option.
The recommendations, however, was based on a limited amount of data. This latest study digs deeper into these programs’ effectiveness.
The objective of this systematic review was to assess the effects of symptom-limited aerobic exercise programs compared with control interventions on symptom intensity in individuals with sports-related concussions. The researchers searched MEDLINE, EMBASE< CINHAL and EBM databases for relevant randomized clinical trials that included aerobic exercise programs as an intervention for sports-related concussion.
They then applied the risk of bias and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation recommendation to the pooled studies for quantitative analysis. They also conducted a descriptive analysis.
Overall, 7 randomized controlled trials, which included 326 adolescents in total, were analyzed. The researchers found that symptom-limited aerobic exercise programs had a significant beneficial effect on the perception of symptoms (6 studies, 277 participants, low-quality evidence; pooled standard mean difference, -0.44; 95% CI, -0.68 to -0.19).
Three studies found that when the programs are started in the acute phase, they improve symptomatic recovery better than control interventions (moderate quality evidence; pooled standard mean differences, -0.43; 95% CI, -0.71 to -0.15).
The researchers wrote, “Symptom-limited aerobic exercise programs are beneficial in improving symptoms of adolescents after a sports-related concussion. Good-quality studies are needed to determine effects on adults and on other outcomes.”
