Relation Between Cognitive Assessment and Clinical Physical Performance Measures After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
Prokopios Antonellis, Margaret M Weightman, Peter C Fino and 5 others
PMID 37931890WHAT IT FOUND
In people with mild traumatic brain injury, cognitive scores correlated strongly with complex physical tasks like agility and high-level mobility, but not with simple walking or dual-tasking.
Dual-task performance reflected prioritization strategies rather than cognitive ability.
Key findings
01Cognitive assessments showed the strongest correlations with complex physical tasks such as the modified Illinois Agility Test and High-Level Mobility Assessment Tool, but not with simple walking tasks.
02Dual-task walking did not show a stronger relation to cognitive performance than single-task walking, suggesting it measures resource allocation rather than cognitive capacity.
03The ANAM cognitive composite score predicted performance on agility and mobility tasks, but this association disappeared for the Functional Gait Assessment when adjusting for age, BMI, and symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study included only individuals with chronic mTBI (3 weeks to 3 years post-injury) who were still symptomatic, so results may not apply to acute stages or those who have recovered. It is a cross-sectional design, so it cannot determine if cognitive and physical relations change over time. Fitness levels were not measured, which could influence both cognitive and physical performance. Participants were not instructed on how to prioritize tasks during dual-task conditions, limiting interpretation of why dual-tasking did not correlate with cognition.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing financial interests. The study was supported by U.S. Government and NIH grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of correlation between dual-task walking and cognitive scores as evidence that dual-tasking is ineffective for rehabilitation. The study suggests dual-tasking measures resource allocation rather than raw cognitive ability, so it may still be clinically relevant for assessing functional prioritization.