People with post-concussion syndrome may benefit from pioneering treatment developed in Buffalo.
Canisius College Associate Professor of Kinesiology Karl Kozlowski says typically, people are told to rest. But Kozlowski says he has seen patients improve with gentle exercise, such as walking on a treadmill.
"We will exercise them almost to the point where their symptoms start to either worsen or change and then we back them off significantly from there. What we've found is that anywhere between 60 and 65 percent of their maximal effort is where these people start" says Kozlowski.
"It's not really a huge amount of exercise that they're doing and they're still seeing some symptom resolution with that."
Kozlowski says patients tracked their symptoms and reported feeling better within three weeks of starting the low-level workout. He says gradual exercise helps restore the brains's auto-regulation mechanism.
