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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To determine if people with moderate-to-severe TBI can adhere to a minimally supervised, community-based vigorous aerobic exercise program.
DESIGN: Prospective trial. SETTING: Eastern Massachusetts YMCA facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Ten community-dwelling volunteers (8 men, 2 women; ages 22-49) 6-15 months post moderate-to-severe TBI. INTERVENTION: Participants received memberships to local YMCAs and brief orientations to exercise, then were asked to independently complete ≥ 12 weeks of ≥ 3 training sessions/week, performed at 65-85% of maximum heart rate for ≥ 30 minutes per session. Participants could self-select exercise modality, provided they met intensity/duration targets. Programmable heart rate monitors captured session intensity/duration. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Independence with equipment/facility use, compliance with training goals (session frequency, duration, intensity and total weeks of training).
RESULTS: All participants achieved independence with equipment/facility use. All met at least 2 of 4 training goals; half met all 4 goals. Participants averaged 3.3 sessions/week (SD +/- 0.7) for 13 weeks (range 6 - 24). Average session duration was 62 minutes (SD +/- 23), of which 51 minutes (SD +/- 22) occurred at or above individual HR training targets.
CONCLUSIONS: People in recovery from moderate-to-severe TBI can, with minimal guidance, perform vigorous, community-based exercise. This suggests decentralized exercise may be logistically and economically sustainable after TBI, expanding its potential therapeutic utility and rendering longer duration exercise studies more feasible.
Copyright © 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Language: en |