Utility of Heart Rate Variability and Exertional Task Completion During Recovery of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Active Duty Service Members.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Primary care exertional testing is recommended for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) management in active duty service members (ADSM) before return-to-duty (RTD), yet there are no validated standardized tasks with objective physiological measures. Impairments to the automatic nervous system (ANS) after mTBI may last beyond symptom resolution and impact readiness for duty. Assessment of ANS functioning (heart rate variability, HRV) could provide an objective measure of mTBI recovery.

Materials and methods

Eighteen ADSM with mTBI (2 weeks or less post-injury) and 18 age-matched healthy controls (HC) performed a protocol of two brief exertional tasks that challenge exertional and autonomic impairments: a 6-minute metronome-paced step-task and a 2-minute self-paced

SUBMITTER: Prim JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12777512 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature