• Xiaotian Shen, Bixi Gao, Zilan Wang, Yanbo Yang, Zhouqing Chen, Lelin Yu, and Zhong Wang.
• Department of Neurosurgery & Brain and Nerve Research Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China; Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
• World Neurosurg. 2021 Feb 1; 146: e22-e29.

BackgroundWe searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials from January 1980 to April 2018 for adolescents with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) to explore the value of aerobic exercise in sport-related concussion (SRC) and mTBI treatment.MethodsA meta-analysis for the postconcussion symptom scale (PCSS) score and time to recovery was performed with STATA software.ResultsWe found that aerobic exercise versus usual treatment significantly decreased the PCSS score (weighted mean difference = 6.51, 95% confidence interval: 0.29, 12.72; P = 0.040), as well as the time to recovery (weighted mean difference = -3.87; 95% confidence interval: -6.50, -1.23; P = 0.004). However, aerobic exercise showed no significant improvement in immediate postconcussion assessment and cognitive testing (P = 0.471/0.129/0.648/0.800, respectively, in verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed, and reaction time).ConclusionsCompared with usual treatment, aerobic exercise promoted mTBI adolescents' recovery, assessed by PCSS and time to recovery. However, aerobic exercise may not help with neurocognitive function recovery.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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