ReviewJournal of anxiety disorders2023
Aerobic exercise in the treatment of PTSD: An examination of preclinical and clinical laboratory findings, potential mechanisms, clinical implications, and future directions.
Review in Journal of anxiety disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effect of Exercise Training on Anxiety Symptoms in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2025Pooled it
- Contributions of yoga and aerobic exercise to acute changes in state affect, circulating BDNF and eCB concentrations, and memory.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Trial
- Group integrated exercise versus recovery class for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized clinical trial.BMC psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Augmenting virtual reality exposure for PTSD with physical activity: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Exercise type, dose and mental health outcomes in youth: Which types and doses are sufficient?General psychiatry · 2026Article
- Test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the Occupational Resilience Measure (ORM 1.0).The human occupation & wellbeing journal · 2026Article
- Anhedonia and PTSD symptom severity profiles differentially influence physical activity volume in trauma-exposed adults.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Biomarkers and Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Susceptibility and Resilience to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Review
- Impact of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Duration on Volumetric and Microstructural Parameters of the Hippo-Campus, Amygdala, and Prefrontal Cortex: A Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study with Correlation Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Physical Activity Is Positively Associated with Model-Based Decision-Making in Pursuit of Reward in Trauma-Exposed Adults.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2025Article
- Episodic Memories Bias Contextual Threat Inferences after Aerobic and Mind-Body Exercise.Mental health and physical activity · 2025Article
- Preliminary Results from an RCT Examining the Effects of a Health Behavior Intervention as an Adjunct to Standard Trauma Therapy Among Adults with PTSD.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Evolving Psychotherapeutic Approaches for PTSD: Beyond the Fear-Based Model.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- A randomized, 12-month, parallel-group trial testing the effects of a cognitive behavioral healthy lifestyle intervention as an adjunct to standard trauma therapy among adults with PTSD: the I-CHAT study protocol.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Pharmacological manipulations of the dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum during fear extinction reveal opposing roles in fear renewal.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2024Article
- Exercise and Memory.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- Exercise and Anxiety.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- Exercise and Fear and Safety Learning.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- Editorial: Lifestyle interventions for traumatic stress (LIFTS).Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Exercise and PTSD.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with heightened emotional responding, avoidance of trauma related stimuli, and physical health concerns (e.g., metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease). Existing treatments such as exposure-based therapies (e.g., prolonged exposure) aim to reduce anxiety symptoms triggered by trauma reminders, and are hypothesized to work via mechanisms of extinction learning. However, these conventional gold standard psychotherapies do not address physical health concerns frequently presented in PTSD. In addition to widely documented physical and mental health benefits of exercise, emerging preclinical and clinical evidence supports the hypothesis that precisely timed administration of aerobic exercise can enhance the consolidation and subsequent recall of fear extinction learning. These findings suggest that aerobic exercise may be a promising adjunctive strategy for simultaneously improving physical health while enhancing the effects of exposure therapies, which is desirable given the suboptimal efficacy and remission rates. Accordingly, this review 1) encompasses an overview of preclinical and clinical exercise and fear conditioning studies which form the basis for this claim; 2) discusses several plausible mechanisms for enhanced consolidation of fear extinction memories following exercise, and 3) provides suggestions for future research that could advance the understanding of the potential importance of incorporating exercise into the treatment of PTSD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.