- - alcohol-dependent patients (m) - Ethnicity not reported
- Inpatient alcohol rehab treatment - Group therapy, recreation programs - Duration and type of therapy not reported - Random assignment to EX or Control
- Standard care - (Group therapy, recreation programs)
- No effects with regard to drinking episodes notices by staff
- Small - Lack of equal contact time control - Duration and type of therapy not reported - No direct alcohol-related outcomes reported - No follow-up data reported
(no other alcohol-related outcomes reported) - Significant gains in cardiovascular fitness and self-cathexis scale, Significantly reduced sleep disturbances
- - alcohol-dependent patients (m) - Ethnicity not reported
- Inpatient alcohol rehab treatment - Group psycho-therapy, physical fitness program, work assignment, education, family counseling, individual therapy - Duration: 12 weeks
- Duration: 12 weeks - 5 times/week, 1 h each - Warm-up, individual strengthening activities, 20 m in of cardiovascular training (group walk or run)
None
- No alcohol-related outcomes reported - significant gains in cardiovascular fitness, reductions in self-reported depression and paranoia
- One-sample pre-post comparison - Lack of control condition to control for general treatment/recovery effects - No alcohol-related outcomes reported - No follow-up data reported
- - patients (m, f) (diagnoses not reported) - Ethnicity not reported
- Inpatient alcohol rehab treatment - Daily group therapy led by abstinent alcoholics - Type of therapy not reported Duration: 6 weeks
- Duration: 6 weeks - 5 times/week, 1 h each - Stretching, calisthenics, muscle-strengthening EX, running or cross-country skiing
- Control group with standard care in different therapy center
- At 3-month followup, significantly higher abstinence rates (self- report, validated by family members or colleagues) - Significant fitness gains
- Comparison of patients from different study centers (effects of patient or treatment characteristics interfering with effects of EX) - Lack of randomization
- - alcohol-dependent patients (m) - Ethnicity not reported
- Inpatient alcohol rehab treatment - Type of therapy not reported - Duration: 4 months - Randomized assignment to treatment group
- Duration: 4 months - 3 times/week - Running with increasing intensity and duration (individually adjusted)
- Standard therapy (type not reported)
- No alcohol-related outcomes reported - Significant training effects: almost all patients were able to run ≥ 1 h at the end of treatment - Significantly stronger reductions of stress (self-developed scale), nonsignificant improvements regarding state anxiety (STAI), depression, psychosomatic symptoms, coping, well-being
- Small - Lack of equal contact time control - No alcohol-related outcomes reported - Lack of intention-to-treat analysis to correct for high dropout rate (only 26/46 patients included in analyses) - No follow-up data reported
- Duration: 8 weeks - 3 times/week (+ instruction to train at least one time/week on their own) - 30 min of running at individual intensity
- Control 1: standard intervention (daily journals) - Control 2:3 times/week supervised meditation
- Significantly stronger reduction in alcohol consumption during treatment phase (also trendwise during followup) - Only alcohol consumption on weekdays affected, not on weekends - Significant fitness gains
- Small N - Subjects without clinical diagnosis of alcohol abuse/dependence - Only self-report of drinking behavior - Drinking behavior uncorrelated with fitness gains general lifestyle modification? - Subjects with high treatment compliance from control 2 improved as much as subjects in EX group
- - “alcoholic patients” (m, f) (diagnoses not reported) - Predominantly white sample (92%)
- Inpatient alcohol rehab treatment (influenced by AA philosophy) - Duration: 4 weeks
- Duration: 4 weeks - 3 times/week - 20–30 min Walking/running at 60–80% maximum HR
- Standard care without EX (time-staggered)
- No alcohol-related outcomes reported - No fitness gains in EX group - Significantly lower anxiety and depression in EX group at the end of treatment
- Small N - Lack of equal contact time control - EX duration too short to improve fitness - No alcohol-related outcomes reported - No follow-up data reported
- “alcoholic patients” (m, f) - (diagnoses not reported) - Ethnicity not reported
- Multicenter study: inpatient and outpatient treatment programs of different kinds and durations
- Duration: 3 weeks supervised EX, followed by 12 weeks home-based EX - 3 times/week - 30 min of aerobic and muscle-strengthening training following ACSM guidelines
- Duration: 3 weeks of supervised gentle stretching and breathing exercises, followed by 12 weeks home-based training - 3 times/week, 30 min each
- No significant differences in abstinence rates - Significant higher improvement in power, fitness, body self-perception, and self-esteem after 15 weeks - Power and fitness gains maintained at 5-month followup - No differences in body weight and resting pulse - Anxiety and depression equally reduced in both groups
- Diagnoses and type of therapy not reported - Lack of intention-to-treat analysis to correct for high number of dropouts at followup
- Duration: 6 weeks “Body-Mind-Component” - 5 times/week, 1.5 h each - Fitness component including Yoga, incremental jogging in place up to 20 min; other components: motivational aspects, responsibility for health elements
- Standard care without “Body-Mind-Component”
- Significantly reduced craving in “Body-Mind-Component” group - Only partial fitness gains - No impact of “Body-Mind-Component” on depression, body satisfaction - Significant increase of internal locus of control and responsibility for health
- No pure EX program: unclear which part of the “Body-Mind-Component” is related to reported changes - Nongeneralizable sample (veterans)
- - alcohol-dependent patients (m, f) after detoxification (mean 19 days) - Ethnicity not reported
- Pilot study, outpatient alcohol treatment program (no details reported)
- Duration: 12 weeks - Once per week supervised, including CBT-based EX counseling, 2-3 times/week alone - 20–40 min (gradually increasing) of aerobic training (treadmill, ergometer) at 50–69% max HR
None
- Significantly higher rate of abstinent days at end of treatment and 3-month followup - Significantly increased fitness and decreased BMI at end of treatment (no difference at 3-month followup)
- Very small N - Lack of control group, therefore effects not explained by EX alone
AA: alcoholics anonymous, ACSM: American College of Sports Medicine, CBT: cognitive-behavioral therapy, EX: exercise, f: female, h: hour(s), HR: heart rate, HR-R: heart rate reserve, m: male, max HR: maximum heart rate, min: minutes, N: sample size, PA: physical activity.
