Madhukar H Trivedi, Tracy L Greer, Bruce D Grannemann, Timothy S Church, Eugene Somoza, Steven N Blair, Jose Szapocznik, Mark Stoutenberg, Chad Rethorst, Diane Warden, Kolette M Ring, Robrina Walker, David W Morris, Andrzej S Kosinski, Tiffany Kyle, Bess Marcus, Becca Crowell, Neal Oden, Edward Nunes

There is a need for novel approaches to the treatment of stimulant abuse and dependence. Clinical data examining the use of exercise as a treatment for the abuse of nicotine, alcohol, and other substances suggest that exercise may be a beneficial treatment for stimulant abuse, with direct effects on decreased use and craving. In addition, exercise has the potential to improve other health domains that may be adversely affected by stimulant use or its treatment, such as sleep disturbance, cognitive function, mood, weight gain, quality of life, and anhedonia, since it has been shown to improve many of these domains in a number of other clinical disorders. Furthermore, neurobiological evidence provides plausible mechanisms by which exercise could positively affect treatment outcomes. The current manuscript presents the rationale, design considerations, and study design of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network (CTN) CTN-0037 Stimulant Reduction Intervention using Dosed Exercise (STRIDE) study.