From the laboratory to the community: A study exploring factors to make exercise for persistent post-concussion symptoms more accessible

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to examine the literature on exercise rehabilitation for post-concussion symptoms and make recommendations for such exercise programs to be tested and implemented for the wider population. This research program identified exercise parameters that have shown promise in post-concussion rehabilitation studies carried out mostly on athletes, investigated existing knowledge gaps and misinformed attitudes about post-concussion rehabilitation in the community, and explored desirable features and barriers to exercising. The findings and recommendations from this research are expected to shape future post-concussion rehabilitation studies among diverse populations.

A comparison of public views about sports concussion recovery with current guidelines: where are the gaps and overlaps?

“…This study aimed to determine community understanding of what people should do for concussion recovery. In a previous study (Singaravelu 2022), rest for SC was most commonly recommended by community members, seeking medical advice was identified by less than half of the sample, and active recovery was infrequently mentioned. While the present study replicates these findings to a large extent, it also shows that community advice for SC is time-sensitive (immediate and subacute advice differed) and that, compared to immediate advice, mention of active recovery was proportionally higher as subacute advice, and rest was proportionally lower.…”

“…However, these findings are from studies about activity plans postconcussion. By comparison, unless community volunteers are probed specifically about activity plans, they do not commonly propose active recovery for SC (Singaravelu 2022). For example, when 224 community members were asked for concussion recovery recommendations, rest was mentioned by 70% of the sample, medical referral by a third of the sample, and active recovery by less than 10% of the sample (Singaravelu 2022).…”

“…By comparison, unless community volunteers are probed specifically about activity plans, they do not commonly propose active recovery for SC (Singaravelu 2022). For example, when 224 community members were asked for concussion recovery recommendations, rest was mentioned by 70% of the sample, medical referral by a third of the sample, and active recovery by less than 10% of the sample (Singaravelu 2022). Even in the studies framed around postconcussion activity plans, some gaps in community understanding of active recovery are evident (Sullivan and Finnis 2020) and rest duration is overestimated by the public compared to current advice (Sullivan and Billing 2019;Sullivan and Cox 2019).…”