What is already known on this topic: Cardiorespiratory deconditioning is common among people who have sustained a traumatic brain injury. Circuit classes with functional exercises can provide rehabilitation and, if the intensity is sufficient, could provide a cardiorespiratory fitness training effect. What this see more study adds: Circuit class therapy provides a sufficient dose of exercise to improve cardiorespiratory fitness in some people with traumatic brain injury. Among those who did not achieve a sufficient

training stimulus during the class, the provision of continuous feedback about whether their heart rate was in the training zone did not significantly improve the intensity of exercise performed. The physiological intensity of routine physiotherapy intervention in rehabilitation has been examined in two observational studies of people after stroke (Kuys et al 2006, MacKay-Lyons and Makrides 2002). Both studies conclude that routine physiotherapy intervention does not meet the minimum intensity to induce a cardiorespiratory fitness training effect as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine. This has also been investigated in people with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (Bhambhani

et al 2005), with peak cardiorespiratory responses not changing during five weeks of participation in a routine neurological rehabilitation program. These results would this website indicate that in order for cardiorespiratory deconditioning to be addressed in rehabilitation, either specific cardiorespiratory fitness interventions need to be incorporated, or the way rehabilitation is structured needs to be modified. Group circuit class therapy was introduced into rehabilitation

as a means to increase patient practice, as an efficient way to provide therapy (Carr and Shepherd 1998, English and Hillier 2010), and has been shown to improve mobility in people after stroke (English and Hillier 2010). In the rehabilitation context, circuit classes typically involve one to two hours of functional exercise (eg, standing up from sitting, walking, stair climbing) three Cell press to five times per week (English and Hillier 2010). Patients rotate around a series of exercise stations that can be adapted and progressed to meet the needs of individual patients. This group circuit class therapy appears to be an appropriate exercise mode and of sufficient frequency and duration to meet American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for cardiorespiratory fitness training. If the intensity is sufficient, circuit class therapy may be feasible to provide sufficient exercise dosage for a cardiorespiratory fitness training effect in people with traumatic brain injury. The research questions were: 1.