Leveraging passive exercise to support brain health

Abstract

Clinicians and practitioners have used passive exercise to improve mobility; however, research designed to systematically explore its effects is not well developed. This editorial will highlight evidence from studies of acute bouts of passive exercise that could be leveraged to understand whether regular passive exercise could maintain and improve brain health. Regular active exercise (ie, volitional aerobic/resistance exercise) has numerous health benefits, including, but not limited to, improved functional abilities (eg, mobility), reduced risk of developing diseases, improved brain health and cognition, and facilitated recovery following a medical event (eg, acute injury).1 For example, active exercise can improve clinical recovery in individuals with a recent traumatic brain injury and reduce the risk of persistent post-concussive symptoms.2 For individuals who are unable to actively exercise (eg, unconscious, paralysed or sedated patients, stroke or spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease), passive exercise is usually prescribed in settings such as in hospitals, rehabilitation clinics or care homes.3 Passive exercise is completed independently of an individual’s volitional effort and relies entirely on an external force to move an individual’s limbs. In this framework, passive exercise involves movement through a specified range of motion, often via therapist-assisted movement and/or via a mechanically driven flywheel or stationary tandem bicycle. In this context, the overarching goal of passive exercise is to maintain or improve mobility and prevent further musculoskeletal complications. However, the specific promotion of brain health via passive exercise prescription is often overlooked. Promising early research from Ridgel …