Early Exercise is Associated with Faster Concussion Recovery among Collegiate Athletes: Findings from the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium

Growing evidence indicates early exercise may improve symptoms and reduce clinical recovery time after concussion, but research examining collegiate student-athletes is scarce. The aim of this study was to compare symptom recovery time, clinical recovery time, and persisting post-concussion symptom (i.e., symptoms ≥ 28 days) prevalence by the timing of light exercise initiation before the graded return to play (RTP) protocol among concussed participants. Collegiate student-athletes (n = 1228; age 18.4 ± 0.9 years; 56.5