Active clinical trials for "Brain Concussion"

Healthy (non-injured) and concussed college-aged participants will complete two testing sessions that include (1) clinical symptom, balance, and cognitive evaluations and (2) a progressive exercise session to establish symptom exacerbation or maximal exercise capacity. Individuals randomized to the control group will receive no intervention between sessions, while individuals randomized to the intervention group will complete 30 minutes of stationary bike exercise at least 3 days/week.

The purpose of this research study is to learn more about how sleep changes as teens recover from concussions. We also want to learn if we can improve sleep in teens who have concussions.

Physical and cognitive rest are recommended as treatment for concussion, but debate persists about the utility of this recommendation for patients recovering from concussion. In addition, patient adherence to physical and cognitive rest recommendations after concussion remains unknown. This study will measure and compare symptom and activity reports in the days and weeks after a concussion among patients randomly assigned to different incentive-based arms.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one and utmost rampant attained neurological conditions which can happen in young adults. Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy can help them improve their balance, speed and agility.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), including concussion, is a real public health problem. Indeed mTBI might induce long-term brain disorders with increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases and the healthcare costs can be significant for both the individual and the society. However mTBI is called the "silent epidemic", because of the lack of research in this field in France as well as in the rest of the world. Most of the time, mTBI is associated with sports injuries, road traffic accidents and falls. The risk of neurodegenerative diseases is significantly increased with the repetition of mTBI, which may have a cumulative effect. In this context, playing football (or 'soccer') is associated with a high risk of concussion and with frequent head-ball contacts which are repeated during the training and matches. Moreover, football is the most popular team sport in the world, with more than 265 million players. The long-term impact of "heading" in football is still debated in the literature. Nevertheless, several studies suggest the possible emergence of early neurocognitive disorders. Otherwise, while mTBI is usually characterized by normal brain images using traditional neuroimaging techniques, microscopic anatomical changes might be detectable by new neuroimaging techniques. According to recent studies, cognitive dysfunctions could be based on these microstructural changes in the gray matter and white matter, secondary to the primary mechanical injury. Studies that have examined the structural changes in the brain white matter in football players are rare and lack of evidence regarding the consequences of accumulated brain impacts explains the lack of preventive measures in this sport. In addition, post-traumatic secondary lesions cause functional alterations of the neurovascular unit and its effect on cerebral perfusion may play a crucial role, which has never been yet explored in humans over the long term. In this research, the investigators will develop a unique multi-modal neuroimaging protocols to assess brain changes after minor head trauma and over the time. Investigators want to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess cerebral blood flow using Arteria Spin Labelling (ASL), structural changes using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI), and functional changes using BOLD resting-functional MRI.

The researchers want to find out more about a standalone software application, ImPACT Online and how it relates to other commonly used tests of memory, attention and reaction time. ImPACT Online is a computer-based neurocognitive test for concussion management. The test was designed to help measure the effects of concussion on cognitive processes (for example, memory, attention, brain speed) and visual functioning.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important public health problem with an estimated 1.7 million new cases in the United States each year. Although the vast majority of these victims sustain mild TBI, many still develop headache, difficulty concentrating, and decreased memory with potential for serious long-term consequences. In particular, mild TBI is an important consequence of combat-related injuries sustained by military personnel and sports-related injuries in young adults. Unfortunately, treatment of mild TBI is usually limited to oral analgesics for headache pain such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil). Since there are no previous randomized trials of these medications for mild TBI, their comparative effectiveness is not known. Increasing animal based evidence suggests that mild TBI is related to brain cell injury caused by overexpression of a cellular enzyme (COX-2) that causes neuroinflammation. Fortunately, inhibition of COX-2 is easily achieved using ibuprofen. We hypothesize that head injured patients treated with ibuprofen will have a lower incidence of mild TBI symptoms than patients treated with acetaminophen. We will conduct a randomized clinical trial to measure the comparative effects of ibuprofen versus acetaminophen on the incidence of specific symptoms of mild TBI in emergency department patients with head injury.

This study will determine if protective soccer headgear reduces the incidence or severity of Sport Related Concussion injuries (SRCs) in US adolescent (high school) soccer players. Half the subjects will practice and play during their soccer season with soccer head gear specifically marketed to reduce the incidence of SRCs while the other half of the subjects will practice and play without the head gear.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of concussion history and reading direction on baseline King- Devick Test (KDT) performance, a common component of sideline concussion assessments. The KDT is a timed assessment of saccades, or quick movements of the eyes between two points. This test is a form of rapid automatized naming and involved subjects reading digits arranged on a tablet screen as quickly and accurately as possible. The test has three progressively more challenging test "cards," as the horizontal guidelines between digits disappear from test card 1 to 2, and the vertical spacing between the lines of digits decreases from test card 2 to 3. KDT performance is evaluated in terms of both speed (duration to all three test cards) and the number of errors (digits read incorrectly or omitted). Previous studies have identified several factors that affect KDT performance aside from head injury, including age, sex, sleep deprivation, learning disabilities, and first languages other than English. History of concussion has not been shown to influence KDT performance. The investigators hypothesize that since the left-to-right (L-R) reading direction of the KDT is the same way in which to read English, the long-term effects of prior concussions on saccadic eye movements may be masked. The investigators want to answer the following three research questions: 1) What is the effect of KDT reading direction on baseline KDT performance? If the test is performed by reading digits in a right-to-left (R-L) direction, will KDT times be slower and the number of errors increase relative to a typical L-R KDT? 2) What is the effect of a history of multiple concussions on KDT performance relative to no history of concussion? 3) Is the R-L KDT more sensitive to a history of multiple concussions? The investigators hypothesize that individuals with a history of multiple concussions will perform significantly worse (longer test durations, more errors) than individuals with no concussion history on the R-L KDT. On the other hand, the investigators hypothesize that baseline performance on the traditional L-R KDT will not be able to discriminate individuals with a history of multiple concussions from those with no concussion history.

This study is a Phase 2, open-label study of a therapeutic intervention (graded exercise)compared to a reference therapy (passive stretching) in patients who have sustained mTBI. Subjects will be randomly assigned with a ratio of 1:1 to complete either graded exercise or passive stretching using a parallel-group design. The effects of graded exercise and passive stretching will be compared using ClearPlay© (ANSwers Neuroscience Pty Ltd commercial mobile application) The study will also validate the performance of two devices: ClearHeart©, ANSwers Neuroscience Pty Ltd commercial prototype for cold pressor testing, compared to ice bucket testing. ClearPlay©, ANSwers Neuroscience Pty Ltd commercial prototype based on the joint position error test to assess "whiplash".