Exploring indicators of prolonged recovery in sports related Concussion.

Category

Health and Environmental Sciences

Description of research project

Kia ora and Hello!
My name is Rachel Skilling and I am a Masters Student in the Physiotherapy School at AUT.
Have you or someone you know had a recent sports-related concussion?
I would like to invite you to take part in a study aiming to explore the relationship between common clinical assessments and recovery time in sports related concussion.
After a sports related concussion, usual clinical practice involves the use of tests such as the Buffalo Concussion treadmill test to assess your exercise intolerance and guide your exercise prescription for active recovery and return to play. Clinicians will also use some common tests of eye movement and reflexes.
Recent studies have shown that the length of your recovery after concussion can be linked with performance on various tests of eye movement, heart rate, and treadmill walking. One measure of eye movements is a test called the Hart Strings. It is not currently known if this test, recorded after the treadmill test, can give information about recovery after sports related concussion. This study will investigate the relationships between various tests and the time it takes to recover after concussion.
The study involves participating in one 60minute face-to-face testing session involving a walking exercise tolerance test on a treadmill and some brief eye tracking tests. Participants then complete online symptom questionnaires at regular intervals for the following 8 weeks. There is also the option of wearing a Fitbit tracker to monitor your activity and sleep levels.
If you are a patient of the Axis Sports Medicine Concussion Clinic, this testing session could replace your regular exercise testing session, as it involves the same tests. After the research session, the results from your research exercise testing session will be shared with your relevant medical team so they can use them to guide your treatment as normal.
Benefits to participation are that your recovery will be monitored more frequently than you would during standard care. You may also experience less of a wait time to when the clinical team could complete your exercise testing. You will also receive a $20 MTA or supermarket voucher as koha.

Inclusion and/or exclusion criteria

Aged 18-40 years
Sustained a sports related concussion in the last 14 days
Do not have musculoskeletal or medical conditions that limit the ability to participate in exercise testing (e.g., lower limb injury), acute illness, vestibular disorders, pre-existing oculomotor or visual conditions not mitigated with wearing corrective glasses, learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD or other processing disorders.
Are able to attend an exercise tolerance testing session at Axis Sports Medicine St Johns
Are willing to complete follow up symptom surveys via email for up to 8 weeks (or until recovery). These would take approximately 10-15min per week.

Statement of ethics approval

Approved by the Auckland University of Technology Ethics Committee on 2025-08-27 for 3 years - 27/08/2028.

AUTEC approval number

25/214

Contact person

Rachel Skilling, jsx6248@aut.ac.nz

Participant information sheet