Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building A 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
Biomedical Research Center, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
Exp Brain Res. 2023 Jan;241(1):31-47. doi: 10.1007/s00221-022-06494-5. Epub 2022 Nov 10.
Physical fitness is of indisputable importance for both health, and sports. Currently, the brain is being increasingly recognized as a contributor to physical fitness. Hereby, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), as an ergogenic aid, has gained scientific interest. The current PRISMA-adherent review aimed to examine the effect of tDCS on the three core components of physical fitness: muscle strength, -endurance and cardiopulmonary endurance. Randomized controlled- or cross-over trials evaluating the effect of a single tDCS session (vs. sham) in healthy individuals were included. Hereby, a wide array of tDCS-related factors (e.g., tDCS montage and dose) was taken into account. Thirty-five studies (540 participants) were included. Between-study heterogeneity in factors such as age, activity level, tDCS protocol, and outcome measures was large. The capacity of tDCS to improve physical fitness varied substantially across studies. Nevertheless, muscle endurance was most susceptible to improvements following anodal tDCS (AtDCS), with 69% of studies (n = 11) investigating this core component of physical fitness reporting positive effects. The primary motor cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were targeted the most, with positive results being reported on muscle and cardiopulmonary endurance. Finally, online tDCS seemed most beneficial, and no clear relationship between tDCS and dose-related parameters seemed present. These findings can contribute to optimizing tDCS interventions during the rehabilitation of patients with a variety of (chronic) diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Therefore, future studies should focus on further unraveling the potential of AtDCS on physical fitness and, more specifically, muscle endurance in both healthy subjects and patients suffering from (chronic) diseases. This study was registered in Prospero with the registration number CRD42021258529. "To enable PROSPERO to focus on COVID-19 registrations during the 2020 pandemic, this registration record was automatically published exactly as submitted. The PROSPERO team has not checked eligibility".
身体健康对健康和运动都至关重要。目前，大脑正逐渐被认为是身体健康的一个贡献者。在此背景下，经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）作为一种促进体能的手段引起了科学界的兴趣。本研究旨在审查 tDCS 对身体健康的三个核心组成部分（肌肉力量、肌肉耐力和心肺耐力）的影响。纳入了评估单次 tDCS 治疗（与假刺激相比）对健康个体影响的随机对照或交叉试验。在此过程中，考虑了广泛的 tDCS 相关因素（例如 tDCS 模式和剂量）。共纳入 35 项研究（540 名参与者）。研究之间在年龄、活动水平、tDCS 方案和结果测量等方面存在很大的异质性。tDCS 改善身体健康的能力在不同研究之间存在很大差异。尽管如此，肌肉耐力最容易受到阳极 tDCS（AtDCS）的改善，在研究该身体健康核心组成部分的 11 项研究中，有 69%（n=11）报告了积极的效果。大脑运动皮层和背外侧前额叶皮层是最常被靶向的区域，在肌肉和心肺耐力方面都有积极的结果。最后，在线 tDCS 似乎最有益，而且 tDCS 与剂量相关参数之间似乎没有明显的关系。这些发现有助于优化患者康复过程中的 tDCS 干预，这些患者患有各种（慢性）疾病，如心血管疾病。因此，未来的研究应重点进一步揭示 AtDCS 对身体健康的潜力，特别是在健康受试者和患有（慢性）疾病的患者中对肌肉耐力的影响。本研究在 PROSPERO 上注册，注册号为 CRD42021258529。“为了使 PROSPERO 在 2020 年大流行期间专注于 COVID-19 注册，此注册记录被自动按原样发布。PROSPERO 团队没有检查合格性”。
