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Clinical and neurobiological effects of aerobic exercise in dental phobia: A randomized controlled trial
Author(s) -
Lindenberger Brigitt L.,
Plag Jens,
Schumacher Sarah,
Gaudlitz Katharina,
Bischoff Sophie,
Bobbert Thomas,
Dimeo Fernando,
Petzold Moritz B.,
Kirschbaum Clemens,
Dudás Zsuzsa,
Ströhle Andreas
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
depression and anxiety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.634
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6394
pISSN - 1091-4269
DOI - 10.1002/da.22659
Subject(s) - anxiety , aerobic exercise , randomized controlled trial , habituation , specific phobia , crossover study , physical therapy , phobic disorder , medicine , dental fear , clinical trial , psychology , anxiety disorder , psychiatry , placebo , audiology , alternative medicine , pathology
Background Physical activity has shown to be effective in anxiety disorders. For specific phobia, no studies are available that systematically examined the effects of an aerobic exercise intervention on phobic fear within a randomized‐controlled design. Therefore, we investigated the acute effect of a standardized aerobic training on clinical symptoms of dental phobia as well as on stress‐related neurobiological markers. Methods Within a crossover design, 30 patients with dental phobia (mean age: 34.1 years; mean score of the Dental Anxiety Scale: 18.8) underwent two minor dental interventions separated by 7 days. Dental treatment was performed after 30 min of physical activity at either 20% VO 2 max (control) or 70% VO 2 max (intervention), respectively. To control for habituation, patients were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions prior to the first intervention. Moreover, saliva samples were collected at five times in order to determine changes in salivary cortisol (sC) and alpha‐amylase (sAA) due to treatment. Results In comparison to baseline, aerobic exercise within 70% VO 2 max significantly reduced clinical anxiety and sC concentrations before, during, and after the dental treatment. In contrast, the control condition led to decreased sAA levels at different time points of measurement. Habituation occurred at the second study day, independent of the order. Conclusions Our study provides evidence for an effect of moderate–intense exercise on clinical symptoms and sC in patients with dental phobia. Therefore, acute aerobic exercise might be a simple and low‐cost intervention to reduce disorder‐specific phobic fear.