Trauma & PTSD
Does exercise improve intensive therapy for PTSD?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Adding physical activity to intensive trauma therapy does not make it more effective, as patients in both exercise and creative activity groups improved significantly.
Key findings
Both groups showed a large reduction in PTSD symptoms, with 80.0% of the physical activity group and 82.7% of the non-physical group no longer meeting PTSD diagnostic criteria after treatment. There was no statistically significant difference in recovery rates between the groups, and both maintained their improvements at the 6 months follow-up. For those with Complex PTSD, 92.5% in the exercise group and 95.0% in the control group lost their diagnosis.
Methodology
Researchers randomly split 119 patients with PTSD into different groups during an intensive 8-day therapy program consisting of prolonged exposure, EMDR, and psychoeducation. A group of 59 patients completed sessions of moderate-intensity physical activity, while a control group of 60 patients completed non-physical creative tasks. The researchers measured PTSD symptoms before treatment, immediately after treatment, and at 6 months follow-up.
Limitations
This study cannot rule out a ceiling effect, meaning the intensive trauma therapy itself was so highly effective that any extra benefit from exercise was impossible to detect. The trial also lacked an extra control group receiving only trauma therapy without any activities, meaning we cannot tell if either extra activity actually added value. Additionally, the sample was mostly Dutch females and the assessors were not blinded to the treatment groups, which could introduce bias.
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