Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 5, 2026
Revised and Neuroimaging-Compatible Versions of the Dual Task Screen
Published on: October 5, 2020
Return to Physical Activity Timing and Dual-Task Gait Stability Are Associated 2 Months Following Concussion
David R Howell1, Louis R Osternig, Anita D Christie
1The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Waltham, Massachusetts (Dr Howell); Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedics, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Howell); and Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene (Drs Osternig, Christie, and Chou).
Objective:
The effect of physical activity resumption on functional recovery following concussion is poorly understood. We sought to examine the relationship between physical activity resumption timing and gait stability 2 months following concussion.
Setting:
Motion analysis laboratory.
Participants:
Twenty-nine individuals who sustained a concussion and were subsequently allowed to return to preinjury levels of physical activity within 2 months postinjury.
Design:
Prospective cohort study.
Main Measures:
The return-to-activity day (RTA-day) was identified as the first day postinjury that each participant was medically cleared to resume regular physical activity. Whole-body center-of-mass (COM) motion during single-task and dual-task walking was assessed 2 months postinjury. Correlation coefficients were calculated between the RTA-day and single/dual-task gait stability as well as symptom severity measurements 2 months postinjury.
Results:
Dual-task medial-lateral COM displacement (r = -0.52, P = .004) and peak medial-lateral COM velocity (r = -0.37, P = .048) were significantly correlated with RTA-day. Dual-task peak forward velocity and single-task gait stability measures were not significantly correlated with RTA-day.
Conclusions:
The time of RTA-day clearance, within a 2 months postinjury period, is significantly correlated with dual-task medial-lateral gait stability measured at the end of that period, suggesting that frontal plane gait stability recovery is sensitive to the timing of RTA-day.
