NCT06213272

Combined Exercise and Targeted Therapy for Post-Stroke Reading Deficits

Improving Reading Competence in Aphasia With Combined Aerobic Exercise and Phono-Motor Treatment

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 70 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Kessler Foundation · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 85 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of the proposed project is to test the effectiveness of a novel hybrid approach to treatment of reading disorders after stroke, in which exercise training will be used in combination with a targeted reading treatment. This approach is expected to increase cerebral circulation and help to rebuild and strengthen the damaged phonological neural networks. Through this combinatory approach, the study aims to enhance the reading and language improvements seen with existing treatments.

Detailed description

Close to 2.5 million Americans are currently living with post-stroke aphasia, a debilitating communication disorder affecting multiple language modalities. Most stroke survivors with aphasia have acquired reading deficits, which persist chronically and severely limit life participation and autonomy. There is an urgent need for effective treatments grounded in stroke neurobiology which yield robust functional improvements. This project is a randomized controlled trial, which will recruit 70 individuals with chronic left-hemisphere stroke. Participants will complete 40 sessions of targeted reading treatment combined with either 20 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise or light stretching. Participants will undergo 3 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, administered before the intervention, after the initial exercise session, and after the full course of treatment. They will also complete behavioral testing before and after the intervention. The outcome of this study has the potential to radically change how reading treatments are applied, increasing their effectiveness, and ultimately improving the lives of 2.5 million Americans living with stroke-related aphasia. In addition, it is likely that the results will contribute to the understanding of stroke recovery mechanisms thereby fundamentally advancing the field of neurorehabilitation.

Conditions

• Stroke
• Aphasia
• Reading Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Phono-Motor Therapy	The goal of PMT is to build orthographic and phonological awareness and phonological sequence knowledge. During PMT, participants will complete a series of tasks manipulating minimal sound units (consonants (C) \& vowels (V)), combining these units into syllables (CVC, CVCC, CCVC) and syllable sequences (real words and readable nonwords). PMT will aim to engage 5 modalities: visual, acoustic, tactile kinesthetic, motor, and orthographic. Multisyllabic stimuli used during treatment will consist of 40 real words and 68 readable nonword letter strings.
BEHAVIORAL	Aerobic Exercise Training (AET)	Stationary ergometer cycling at 60% heart rate range for 20 minutes, plus 5 minutes of warm up and cool down.
BEHAVIORAL	Stretching	Light stretching activities targeting the head/neck, shoulder, elbow/forearm, hand/wrist, trunk/hip, ankle/foot.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-04-18
• Primary completion: 2029-03-01
• Completion: 2029-03-01
• First posted: 2024-01-19
• Last updated: 2025-05-21

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States