Fitness Training After Traumatic Brain Injury
Fitness Training After Traumatic Brain Injury
The aim of this project is to compare the efficacy of two different fitness exercise
 programmes on improving fitness and psychosocial functioning in a traumatic brain injured
 population. We hypothesize that a supervised fitness-centre based exercise programme,
 compared to an unsupervised home-based exercise programme will show significant improvements
 in cardiorespiratory fitness, depression and community integration.
The objective of this project is to compare a three-month supervised fitness centre-based
 exercise programme to a 3-month unsupervised home-based exercise programme on discharge from
 inpatient rehabilitation on improving cardiorespiratory fitness and psychosocial functioning
 in a traumatic brain injured population. We plan to carry out a multi-centre, assessor
 blinded, randomised controlled trial with a parallel group design to compare the two
 interventions. We hypothesise that the supervised fitness-centre based programme will provide
 significantly better outcomes, and that these gains will not only be evident on completion of
 the programme, but will be maintained on follow-up, thereby demonstrating that investment in
 a supervised exercise programme can provide beneficial long-term effects.
Inclusion Criteria:Patients who have sustained a traumatic brain injury who have completed
 their inpatient rehabilitation at either of the three Sydney Metropolitan Brain Injury
 Units (Liverpool, Ryde or Westmead) will be included in this study if they:

 -  have sustained a very severe or extremely severe traumatic brain injury

 -  have had a hospital admission of > 1 month

 -  are able to walk independently at > 1 m/s on discharge

 -  are able to commit 3 hours per week to a fitness programme

 -  live within the area serviced by the 3 units

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  have a concurrent medical condition for which moderate to high intensity exercise is
 contraindicated

 -  are still in Posttraumatic Amnesia (PTA)

 -  have cognitive or language problems that affect their ability to understand verbal
 instructions

 -  have behaviour problems not suitable for a fitness centre environment