A Canadian study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting in Baltimore found that children who exercised within the first week after a concussion had fewer symptoms a month later, as reported by Daily Rx News.
Roger Zemek, MD, director of the clinical research unit at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and lead study author, and colleagues analyzed 3,063 children between the ages of five and 18. All of the children had experienced a head injury and visited a hospital emergency department between August 2013 and June 2015.
Here are three points:
1. The researchers found 48.2 percent of children who exercised one week after injury had post-concussion symptoms compared to 79.6 percent of children who did not exercise.
2. By the fourth week post-injury, 28.5 percent of children who exercised had symptoms, compared to 76 percent of children who did not exercise.
3. Dr. Zemek wrote exercise within seven days of injury was associated with a nearly 50 percent decrease in the rate of persistent post-concussive symptoms in a month, or those that last beyond a month.