Healthy body, healthy mind: A mixed methods study of outcomes, barriers and supports for exercise by people who have chronic moderate-to-severe acquired brain injury

Perceived Barriers to Exercise in Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury Vary by Age

“…Not knowing where to exercise was a frequently cited barrier to exercise participation, reported by about a third (28.5%) of the respondents in the 35 to 54-year age group and nearly a quarter (23.3%) of the respondents in the 55 years and older age group. These results are similar to a prior study that found going to a fitness center was a barrier to participation in an exercise program after TBI [9]. Additionally, one study found one-third of respondents with SCI (mean 44.1 years of age) did not know where to exercise [34], and two other studies in those with physical disabilities found that lack of an available fitness center was a barrier to physical activity [31,41].…”

“…Prior research in those with SCI found only 6.9% reported fear of leaving home as a barrier to exercise [34]; however, 39% of African-American women with severe physical disabilities reported that fear of leaving the home was a barrier [33]. There is a high rate of anxiety after brain injury [38], and anxiety has previously been identified as a barrier to physical activity and exercise participation [9,21]. It is plausible that the fear to leave the home is related to higher perceived environmental barriers.…”

“…Multiple prior studies also found access to transportation to be an issue for individuals recovering from TBI. One study found that lack of transportation was a major barrier to participation in an exercise program for those with TBI [9]. Corrigan and colleagues studied individuals aged 16-80+ with moderate to severe TBI and showed that the inability to drive oneself increased proportionally with increasing age [6].…”

“…Physical activity, which includes exercise training and daily physical activity participation, is an important adjuvant to medical treatment and is feasible for community-dwelling adults in recovery from moderate to severe TBI [8][9][10][11]. Participation in physical activity may positively affect cardiorespiratory fitness [9,12,13], fatigue [12,14], balance and mobility [15], mood [10,14,[16][17][18], and cognition [17,18] following TBI. Current guidelines recommend that community-dwelling adults with a history of TBI perform 20 min of aerobic physical activity at low to moderate intensity at least 3 to 5 sessions per week along with strength, flexibility, and balance training [19].…”

Aquatic treadmill walking at three depths of water in people with traumatic brain injury

“…Individuals who have sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI) often demonstrate gait impairments that are associated with paralysis, muscular atrophy, compromised motor control, and muscular contracture (Acuña, Tyler, Danilov, & Thelen, ; Lorenz, Charrette, O'Neil‐Pirozzi, Doucett, & Fong, ; Perez, Green, & Mochizuki, ). Limited mobility can also affect the independence of activities of daily living and quality of life (Cheng, Chi, Williams, & Thompson, ; Ptyushkin, Cieza, & Stucki, ).…”