Affiliation:
1. Exercise and Sport Injury Lab, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2. Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA
3. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Purpose
This study aimed to determine the effect of exercise on cognitive and motor performance and the subsequent test–retest reliability of a novel dual-task (DT) assessment in nonconcussed college students.
Methods
Sixty nonconcussed college students (53.3% female) with an average age (±SD) of 20.5 ± 1.34 yr, height of 171.7 ± 9.33 cm, and mass of 69.3 ± 12.23 kg were included in the study. Participants were assigned to an exercise (n = 30) or rest (n = 30) intervention group and completed two study visits that were separated by a 2-wk test–retest interval. At each visit, participants completed a novel DT assessment that consisted of the concurrent administration of the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) and tandem gait (TG) before the exercise or rest intervention. After the DT assessment at the first visit, participants in the exercise group performed moderate-intensity exercise, whereas the rest group sat quietly for 30 min. After the intervention, both groups were readministered the DT assessment. At the second visit, the same procedures were followed, except that each group was administered the opposite intervention (e.g., the exercise group completed the rest intervention). A composite TG (cTG) score was calculated by summing the average time to complete the TG pattern during each SAC domain (immediate memory, digits backwards, months in reverse order, delayed recall). An ANCOVA was conducted to assess postintervention differences while controlling for preintervention performance. Test–retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC3,2) with 95% confidence intervals, with all analyses performed with α = 0.05.
Results
SAC and cTG performance was similar (P values > 0.05) from preintervention to postintervention for the rest or exercise protocols. Good (rest: ICC = 0.77 (0.62–0.87); exercise: ICC = 0.84 (0.73–0.90)) and excellent (rest: ICC = 0.97 (0.94–0.98); exercise: ICC = 0.93 (0.88–0.96)) test–retest reliabilities were observed for the SAC composite score and cTG score, respectively.
Conclusions
Our DT assessment was robust to the influence of moderate-intensity exercise and demonstrated good-to-excellent test–retest reliability in a healthy collegiate sample.
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Subject
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation,Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Reference43 articles.
1. National athletic trainers’ association position statement: management of sport concussion;J Athl Train,2014
2. Consensus statement on concussion in sport—the 5th international conference on concussion in sport held in Berlin, October 2016;Br J Sports Med,2017
3. Evidence-based approach to revising the SCAT2: introducing the SCAT3;Br J Sports Med,2013
4. The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5th Edition (SCAT5): background and rationale;Br J Sports Med,2017
5. Test–retest reliability and interpretation of common concussion assessment tools: findings from the NCAA-DoD CARE consortium;Sports Med,2018