Aerobic Exercise and Transcranial Low Laser Therapy in Patients With Central Nervous System Injury

Central nervous system (CNS) diseases can be acquired (such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury) or non-acquired (such as multiple sclerosis). Many diseases that affect the CNS can be fatal or cause sequelae, which affect the sensorimotor, cardiorespiratory and the quality of life of the individual. Subjects with neurological lesions present low resistance to exercise, a factor that can be attributed to decreased muscle recruitment, oxidative and metabolic capacity reduction, low aerobic resistance and increased energy expenditure. With that in mind, treatment proposals such as aerobic training and gait training with or without weight loss can maximize and restore the individual's functional abilities through active learning. Cardiorespiratory fitness in this patient profile has benefits in terms of fatigue retardation, gait improvement and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Aerobic exercises change the heart rhythm, increase vascularity and provide oxygen. The association of these factors promote cerebral neuroprotective effect, stimulate the production of endogenous neutrotransmitters related to general well-being and favor neuroplasticity. Low-intensity laser therapy, especially transcranial photobiomodulation, has shown benefits in animals and humans such as cognitive and memory improvement, improvement in the behavioral picture, such as attenuation of depression and anxiety, and cortical oxygenation. The study design is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that will compare the effect of cardiorespiratory rehabilitation, cardiorespiratory rehabilitation and low-intensity laser therapy, cardiorespiratory rehabilitation and placebo laser. It is worth mentioning that the use of a Placebo Therapy is restricted to Low Power Laser irradiation. This means that the three experimental groups will effectively be treated with cardiorespiratory rehabilitation, a therapy that improves physical fitness. The treatment with transcranial photobiomodulation irradiation aims to verify the effects and aggregates greater beneficial to the volunteers. In this case, the magnitude of the laser effect must be calculated by the difference (if any) of the group treated with "cardiorespiratory rehabilitation + laser" subtracted from the group treated with "cardiorespiratory rehabilitation + laser Placebo".