Active clinical trials for "Post-Concussion Syndrome"

Every year, approximately 2 million people in the United States and 280,000 in Canada experience a mild traumatic brain injury/concussion. In patients with concussion, symptoms experienced following injury usually get better within 3 months. However, approximately 5-25% of people will experience symptoms beyond the 3 month period, characterized by persistent headaches, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and thinking or concentration problems, which contribute to significant functional impairment. Chronic headache is the most common symptom following concussions. They can last beyond 5 years following injury, significantly impacting daily activities. To date, post-concussion symptoms have no known "cure". One potential approach to treating post-concussion symptoms may involve using drug-free interventions, such as neuromodulation therapy. This has the goal of restoring normal brain activity. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is one method currently being explored as a treatment option. TMS is a procedure where brain electrical activity is influenced by a magnetic field. Numerous studies using rTMS to treat other disorders, such as dementia, stroke, cerebral palsy, addictions, depression and anxiety, have shown much promise. The primary objective of this study is to determine whether rTMS treatment can significantly improve persistent post-concussion symptoms. A secondary objective is to explore the relationship between potential changes in brain function and clinical markers associated with rTMS treatment and how functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a neuroimaging technology, may be used to assess rTMS-treatment response.

This study is investigating the immediate and long-term effects of bilateral cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation on cognition, balance, and symptom severity in people with sports-related post-concussion syndrome. The central hypothesis is that tDCS will provide improvements in cognitive deficits, balance, and overall symptom attenuation in people with SRPCS both acutely and at 2 and 4 week follow ups. The researchers further hypothesize that cerebellar tDCS will ameliorate the symptoms of people with SRPCS.

This study will evaluate neurofeedback (NFB) training as a low risk, non-invasive, effective treatment for Veterans diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and experiencing chronic post-concussive symptoms (PCSs). It is being funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Doing this study will help to determine if NFB will reduce chronic headaches and enhance sleep, attention and quality of life in Veterans with mTBI. NFB is like other biofeedback processes in which information about a person's specific body functioning is made known to the person through a special computer program, which can help that person make the specific body function work better through training. This type of training is usually fun and easy with the help of a coach and a computer. Nothing is ever put into a person's body with biofeedback and it is natural and safe. When a person becomes focused, calm and alert while training on an NFB system, the computer will recognize this and let the trainee know by automatically displaying on the computer screen the positive progression of the game they are playing, such as the plane moving forward or a flower opening. The brain really likes to be in this pattern and when it is happening, people feel good. As a result, any discomforts, like headaches or insomnia, experienced may decrease. After learning about the study, Veterans who agree to participate will be randomly placed into one of two groups, either an intervention group (who will receive NFB) or a control group (who will receive only usual care plus once a week 15-minute calls on health topics). Veterans will have an equal chance of being in either group. Those placed in the control, will also receive NFB after completion of the control group activities. Veterans who are placed in the intervention or delayed intervention group will receive NFB up to 5 times a week, but usually 3 times a week for a total of 20 sessions. Each session is an hour long. Both the intervention and control group will participate in four assessment sessions (lasting up to 2 1/2 hours each) that involve completing 12 questionnaires and a 20-minute attention evaluation. The assessment sessions will occur at the beginning of the study, at 4-6 weeks, at 8-10 weeks, and 2-months later. The participant will receive financial compensation for taking the baseline assessment, 4-6 week, 8-10-week assessments, and for the 2-month follow-up assessment. A participant will receive financial compensation for gas, time and valet parking for each intervention and assessment session. Participation in this research will last about 4 months for those in the intervention and 8 months for those in the delayed intervention group. All participants will receive the NFB treatment by the end of the study. A person who participates in this study may experience a reduction in his or her chronic headaches, and an enhancement of sleep, attention and quality of life. There may be a worsening of symptoms until the individualized training plan for a person can be identified. During an NFB session, brief moments, lasting only seconds or minutes, of dizziness while sitting, muscle tension, or tingling may be experienced. Most people feel relaxed and calm during and after NFB training. This project will be an important step towards a broader implementation of an evidence-based treatment solution for Veterans experiencing chronic headaches, insomnia and attention disorders. The experience of these chronic symptoms can lead to debilitation in all areas of Veterans' lives. This project will provide evidence for the use of NFB with Veterans to alleviate their chronic symptoms and enhance their quality of life. If supported, NFB will offer the investigators' Veterans an effective and non-invasive treatment option. NFB is a patient focused intervention that enables Veterans the opportunity for self-health management.

The prevalence of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and adolescents is around 30% with 70-90% being classified as mild (concussion). Because the brain of a child is still developing, a TBI can have devastating effects and possibly creates lifetime challenges. Sleep seems to play an important role in the post-concussion recovery process. Auditory stimulation during sleep has been shown to reliably boost slow waves, a solid marker for the depth of sleep, and can thus be used to deepen sleep. This study aims to investigate the effects of sleep enhancement via auditory stimulation on recovery after a concussion in children and adolescents in their home. Therefore, half of the patients receive one week of auditory stimulation during deep sleep at their home using a mobile device. The other half follows the same study protocol, but no tones are administered (sham). Cognitive tests as well as symptom questionnaires are used to assess the recovery process. It is hypothesized that the patients in the intervention group will recover better than the ones who haven't received the intervention. Additionally, a group of children and adolescents who never sustained a concussion is included as a control.

Approximately 1.9 million youth sustain a concussion each year, and up to 30% experience persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS) such as headache, dizziness, and difficulty focusing that continue for weeks or months. PPCS results in greater utilization of sub-specialty care and can impact immediate and long-term social development, cognitive function and academic success. Previous recommendations for treating PPCS have focused on cognitive and physical rest, but more recently guidelines have shifted based on new research suggesting the benefit of rehabilitative exercise for PPCS. The rationale behind using exercise to treat youth with concussion is that gradually increasing physical activity facilitates return to full function. Rehabilitative exercise has since become one of the most common approaches to treating youth with PPCS, but access is challenging since most programs require weekly centralized visits with a concussion specialist. To bridge this gap, the investigators developed a telehealth-delivered approach to treat PPCS, utilizing physical activity trackers (Fitbits) and weekly video conferences with trained research staff. They then conducted a series of pilot studies with this approach, finding excellent feasibility, acceptability, and evidence for more rapid declines in concussive symptoms compared to controls. The investigators also found preliminary evidence that mechanisms behind this intervention may stem from both physiologic processes due to increased moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and psychologic processes such as reducing fear- avoidance of concussive symptoms. They now propose a fully-powered randomized controlled trial (RCT) to asses the efficacy of the "Mobile Subthreshold Exercise Program" (M-STEP) for treating youth with PPCS.

The goal of this study is to test a wearable nerve stimulator in adolescents with persistent post-concussive symptoms. The main questions it aims to answer is whether the device will reduce clinical symptom burden, reduce cognitive deficits, and aid in the recovery of clinical symptoms. Participants will wear the device daily for six weeks and complete a series of assessments.

This study will examine whether a newly designed monitor for computers is better tolerated by concussed patients than the standard computer monitor. The information gathered from this study will contribute to the understanding of the persisting concussion symptoms including computer screen intolerance and photosensitivity, with the aim of helping those with concussions.

This prospective randomized intervention study aims to determine if the Concussion Symptom Treatment Program (C-STEP), a cognitive behavioral therapy, improves outcomes for children with post-concussion syndrome.

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare two models of delivery of guided exercise in patients with exercise intolerance after mild head injury. The main question it aims to answer is: • Is a program that includes elements of in-house exercise and follow-up sessions, and repeated treadmill testing, superior to a program with telephone-based follow-up only? Participants will undergo a treadmill test to determine eligibility for the study, and to determine at what intensity level their symptoms worsen (symptom threshold). Thereafter they will exercise 15-20 minutes, 3-5 times per week at 80-90% of the heart rate that was found to be the symptom threshold. One group will receive face-to-face folllow-up and repeated testing, one group will receive telephone-based follow-up only . Researchers will compare these two groups to see if closer follow-up is superior when it comes to recovery from exercise intolerance after 12 weeks of exercise.

Patients with Persisting Concussion Symptoms (PCS) have a multitude of different symptoms. Some patients are at risk of prolonged symptoms but currently there is no tool to assist in identifying patients at high risk. Intensive, multidisciplinary intervention is time-consuming and expensive and may not be warranted for all PCS patients, so it is essential to identify early on which patients are at risk of prolonged symptoms. The aim of this study is to improve the quality of care delivered to patients, especially those who are at high-risk of prolonged PCS by early identification and treatment of all the symptoms. The purpose of this research is to validate the use of a Persisting Concussion Symptoms (PCS) Risk Stratification Tool (RST).