Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on muscle strength and endurance performance in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

doi:10.12307/2021.179

Abstract

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The up-to-now researches on the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on exercise performance are in the initial phase, and the existing conclusions are inconsistent. This meta-analysis attempted to quantitatively evaluate the effect of tDCS on muscle strength and endurance performance of healthy adults, providing new evidence for new neuroelectrophysiological techniques as well as improving the muscle function.
METHODS: To collect randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies regarding the effects of tDCS on muscle strength and endurance performance in healthy adults, the following databases were searched from inception to October 2019: Web of Science, PubMed, Sport Discus, and CNKI. According to the Cochrane Systematic Review Manual, Review Manager 5.3 software was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the literature included and to analyze the combined effect amount.
RESULTS: A total of 15 RCTs involving 201 healthy subjects were included. The meta-analysis indicated that compared with the experimental group, tDCS intervention had insufficient evidence in improving muscle strength: I2=47%, 95% confidence interval [-0.79, 0.23], P=0.27 > 0.05, standard mean difference=-0.28. Compared with the control group, the function of tDCS stimulation to improve the performance of endurance was more evident, and the combined effect amount tended to a medium effect: I2=57%, 95% confidence interval [0.10, 0.76], P=0.01 < 0.05, and standard mean difference=0.43.
CONCLUSION: tDCS intervention has no statistical significance in improving strength, but it is effective in improving endurance performance in general. More rigorous and extensive experimental researches are warranted to explore the tDCS neurophysiological mechanism.

Key words: transcranial direct current stimulation, exercise, muscle, strength, endurance, electrophysiology

CLC Number:

Li Zhiwei, Wu Chaoming, Gu Xinyu, He Ying. Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on muscle strength and endurance performance in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis [J]. Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research, 2021, 25(29): 4750-4756.

Figures/Tables 5

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