An evaluation of executive functions in sportsmen after traumatic brain injury

Background. A particularly difficult problem in the rehabilitation of patients with closed-head injuries (TBI) is executive dysfunction, i.e. difficulty in the transition from thinking to acting. The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of premorbid sports background on the outcome of rehabilitation oriented towards executive functions.
Material and methods. This retrospective study included over 80 TBI patients treated at the authors' rehabilitation centers from 2000 to 2003, using the same program. The experimental group (E) consisted of 9 persons actively involved in sports before their accidents. The controls (group K) included 9 TBI patients not involved in sports prior to the accident, matched to the patients in group E for age, sex, and severity of coma. In addition to clinical interview and observation, we used the Clinical Test of Executive Functions and the Neurolinguistic Test of Attention as outcome measures.
Results. Our results indicated clearly that patients who had been active in sports before injury showed significantly better results in both outcome measures, though the advantage was somewhat greater on the Clinical Test of Executive Functions.
Conclusions. All the TBI patients we studied presented at baseline with serious executive dysfunction. The program of neurorehabilitation we applied showed good effects for the patients in both groups. However, those who had previously been active in sports achieved significantly better outcomes than those who had not. In planning and improving rehabilitation programs for TBI patients the possibility of a sports background should be taken under consideration.