University of Miami professor Aaron Sinnott, PhD, ATC, isa lead author for a new study validating a low-equipment alternative for evaluating athletes' physical readiness to return to sport after concussion.
Athletic trainers, physical therapists, and other members of the sports medicine team facilitating the return to sport strategy for athletes after sport-related concussion currently require treadmills or stationary cycles, which are not available in many clinics. This presents a logistical challenge for sports medicine clinicians aiming to evaluate physical readiness to safely return to sport after recovering from a concussion injury. Dr. Aaron Sinnott, Assistant Professor of Athletic Training in the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences at the University of Miami, wants to change that.
His latest research, published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, introduces and validates a streamlined, equipment-free alternative to an existing concussion clearance protocol, one that could expand access to evidence-based care for athletes at every level.
"Determining safe medical clearance for unrestricted sport participation following concussion remains a challenge for healthcare professionals," Sinnott said. His team set out to address a practical gap in the Dynamic Exertion Test (EXiT), a 12-minute protocol that uses alternating moderate and high-speed treadmill running to assess whether an athlete is physiologically ready to return to full competition.
The study tested whether a 10-meter paced shuttle run, performed back and forth in sync with an audio file, could produce comparable physiological outcomes to the treadmill version of the same protocol. Working with 14 healthy, physically active male adults in a randomized crossover design, the team measured heart rate, blood pressure, perceived exertion, and concussion symptoms across both protocols.
The results were encouraging. Heart rate responses during the final five minutes of both tests showed moderate-to-strong agreement, and concussion symptom and exertion ratings were statistically equivalent between conditions. The 10-meter protocol held up as a clinically viable substitute for the aerobic component of EXiT.
For Sinnott, the implications are straightforward: clinicians no longer need a treadmill to conduct a meaningful return-to-sport exercise test. A hallway, a stopwatch, and an audio file may be enough.
The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, UNC Chapel Hill, Slippery Rock University, Southern Oregon University, and several other institutions, reflecting the kind of multi-site teamwork Sinnott brings to his work at Miami's Sport Neurotrauma Research Laboratory.
The full study, "A brief, clinically feasible alternative to evaluate response to exercise following sport-related concussion: initial validation of the 10-M in male healthy controls," is available now via DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.26.17477-5.
