Physical Activity Interventions in Rehabilitation Programs for Outpatients With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

ABSTRACT

Introduction: There is limited scientific evidence about the optimal content and parameters of physical activity (PA) interventions for rehabilitation outpatients with persisting symptoms of a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Clinicians have thus had to develop services based on their expertise, feasibility and patient needs. Objectives: This study aimed to document PA interventions delivered in specialized programs of a Canadian province offering outpatient rehabilitation services for individuals with persisting symptoms of mTBI to inform clinical intervention development and future research. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study using an online survey containing 32 multiple choice and short open-ended questions to be answered by program administrators, with their clinical team’s input. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used. Results: Data from 94% of rehabilitation sites (n = 17) revealed that PA interventions are delivered to children (n = 4), adults (n = 15) and older adults (n = 5) with mTBI symptoms lasting ≥1 month to ≥1 year post injury. PA interventions aim to increase participation (n = 14), improve body functions (n = 9), manage persisting mTBI symptoms (n = 5) and improve self-management skills (n = 5) and knowledge (n = 4). Interventions include individual (n = 15) or group-based (n = 12) format, home-programs (n = 7), and teaching/education (n = 6). Most PA interventions include aerobic and resistance exercises. PA dosage parameters vary greatly. Conclusion: Clinical experts use multimodal interventions for rehabilitation program users that target improvement in body functions, participation and symptoms. The results can inform the development, enhancement and evaluation of PA interventions. Studies evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions for this clientele are warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical activity
• cross-sectional survey
• exercise prescription
• public health

Acknowledgments

We thank our clinical partners for their involvement in this project: Pierre Vincent, Geneviève Léveillé, Geneviève Lagarde, Julie Brière, Manh-Tien Thierry Nguyen, Louise Chartier and Pierre Goulet. We thanks Natalie Barcelo for her help in co-codification and Réjean Prévost for his technological expertise.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [CA], upon reasonable request.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

Christophe Alarie received a bursary of Excellence from the École the réadaptation, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal and a Doctoral Training Scolarship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.