Breath training could ease lingering concussion symptoms in veterans
NCT ID NCT07071350
First seen Jun 24, 2026 · Last updated Jun 26, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests whether special breathing exercises can help veterans and others with persistent post-concussion symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and memory trouble. The exercises aim to improve heart rate variability, a sign of how well the nervous system is working. 148 participants will be followed to see if symptoms improve over time.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- heart rate variability biofeedback (breathing exercises)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a drug-free way to ease long-term concussion symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and memory problems.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early-to-mid stage trial with only 148 veterans, so results may not apply to everyone. The intervention is behavioral, so benefits may be modest or hard to separate from placebo.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 2/3
Runs two stages together: whether the treatment works, then large-scale confirmation.
- Participants
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About 148 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Sep 2025
- Expected to finish
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Sep 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * age 18 or older * History of military service * Self-Reported hx of 1 or more mild TBI * Most recent TBI more than 1 year ago * Significant Persistent Post-Concussion Symptom burden (Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory \[NSI\] total score greater than or equal to 20). * Current Sleep Difficulties * Fluent English * Able to provide Informed Consent Exclusion Criteria: * Any TBI with severity greater than mild (i.e., Moderate or Severe TBI defined as initial injury loss of consciousness (LOC) duration \>30 minutes, posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) duration \>24 hours, or traumatic hemorrhage on head computerized tomography (CT) and determined by the study investigator based on information gathered during administration of the study's validated TBI structured interview instrument. * Conditions or medications that can affect HRV measurement (pacemaker or an implant that stimulates your heart (e.g., cardioverter-defibrillator or ICD); heart transplant or heart surgery within the last year, including bypass or other surgery, but not including a stent) * Hx of stroke * Mental conditions that may impede adherence (e.g., dementia, psychotic disorder, panic disorder)
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Virginia Commonwealth University
RECRUITINGRichmond, Virginia, 23298, United States
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- Can talk therapies quiet the trauma of violence?