Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Approximately 35% of youth who experience a concussion develop persistent symptoms, which may include persistent headaches, fatigue, and difficulties with concentration, and negatively impact children's academic performance, social relations, and overall quality of life. Poor emotional quality of life following pediatric concussion has also been associated with an increased risk for the development of mental health disorders. Limited treatments exist for pediatric concussion. Early reintegration of physical activity (PA) in youth has been novelly shown as a safe and adequate modality to improve symptoms and an overall faster recovery following injury. However, the effects of PA on the brain and emotional symptoms are unknown. It is also unknown whether activity levels before the injury may lead to different brain and emotional outcomes during recovery compared to sedentary behaviours. The goal of this study is to examine if early PA following pediatric concussion can help brain health and emotional quality of life. I hypothesize that early PA will be associated with positive brain health and lead to improved emotional quality of life. Furthermore, I hypothesize that a prior history of PA will improve brain health and emotional outcomes following pediatric concussion, compared to youth who did not have a prior history of PA. Supporting evidence of improved brain health and emotional outcomes would yield amendments to current pediatric concussion standards of care.