The effectiveness of physical exercise as an intervention to reduce depressive symptoms following traumatic brain injury: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Abstract

Alongside the obvious health benefits, physical exercise has been shown to have a modest anti-depressant effect for people in the general population. To the authors' knowledge, there are no current literature reviews or meta-analyses available exploring this effect for people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A systematic review of intervention studies utilising physical exercise and mood outcome measures for a TBI population was performed in November 2016. Baseline and outcome data were extracted for the nine studies which met the inclusion criteria. Effect sizes were calculated for the three controlled trials and six uncontrolled trials and entered into the meta-analysis. Consistent with research in non-brain injury populations, the current meta-analysis identified a small to medium effect size of physical exercise on reducing depressive symptoms in people with a TBI. This would support further rigorous trials to provide additional evidence for the efficacy of physical exercise interventions for people with TBI. Limitations of the current meta-analysis and clinical implications are discussed.

The Influence of the Val66Met Polymorphism of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor on Neurological Function after Traumatic Brain Injury

“…The Val66Met SNP may also modulate the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical therapies for TBI. Exercise improves emotional and cognitive outcomes after TBI [91, 92]. This effect depended on expression of BDNF [93].…”

Neuropsychoanalytically informed psychotherapy approaches to rehabilitation: The North Wales Brain Injury Service – Bangor University experience 1998–2018

“…The obstacles associated with returning to paid employment following brain injury developed is an area of special interest: for example,Coetzer, Carroll & Ruddle (2011) reported an association between postinjury depression and unemployment; in a qualitative study, Hooson, Coetzer, Stew and Moore (2012) explored difficulties specifically associated with returning to work following brain injury, and identified areas in which rehabilitation support is particularly needed. As regards cost-effective interventions for depression after brain injury, our recent meta-analysis found that exercise is a potentially beneficial intervention for this population(Perry, Coetzer & Saville, 2018). A literature review regarding alcohol misuse and traumatic brain injury found that up to half of all injuries involved intoxication, and a pre-morbid history of alcohol misuse, which was also associated with poorer outcomes generally(Parry-Jones et al, 2006).…”

Exercise for People with Acquired Brain Injury: An ICF Perspective

“…The key parameters selected are a checklist of criteria based on the ICF, created by exercise and ABI experts, which includes the heterogeneity of four deficit areas that are targeted after ABI and how they can be influenced in different environments [19,[44][45][46][47]. In this regard, the selection of key parameters was based on the subjective and objective parameter of the ABI approach.…”

“…In this regard, work on self-esteem serves to improve participation [58] so that the person with ABI chooses to perform activities in an exercise group rather than individually whenever possible [59]. These choices will determine the success of the design and implementation of an exercise program for ABI [47,60] (Table 2).…”