Neuroscience Laboratory, NSL (Brain, Cognition and Behavior), Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Iranian Neuroscience Society-Fars Chapter, DANA Brain Health Institute, Shiraz, Iran.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 5;13(1):251. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26610-3.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a growing empirical approach to improve athletic performance. Some recent studies have investigated the effects of transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) on the motor performance such as reaction time. TDCS and tsDCS can lead to alteration of the spontaneous neural activity, and the membrane potentials of motor neurons in cerebral cortex and spinal interneurons, respectively. Given the paucity of experimental studies on the non-invasive brain stimulation in the field of sports neuroscience, especially martial sports, the present study aimed at investigating the effects of neurostimulation in potentiating the motor and cognitive functions in experienced taekwondo practitioners. The study sample included 15 experienced male taekwondo players who received real or sham direct current stimulation on the primary motor cortex (M1) and the lumbar spinal segment (T12-L2) over two sessions, 72 h apart. Next, the performance of the participants was evaluated through a simulation of taekwondo exercise directly after the sham and real sessions. Moreover, a cognitive platform (CBS: Cambridge Brain Science) was used to investigate the participants' cognitive profile in each instance. Unlike sham stimulation, real tDCS was associated with improved selective attention and reaction time in both in the simulated task performance and cognitive examination. The concurrent cortical and trans-spinal tDCS was found to improve selective attention (31% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 1.84]. and reduce reaction time (4.7% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 0.02]. Meanwhile, the intervention failed to leave a significant change in cognitive functions evaluated through CBS (P > 0.05). As informed by our results, the present dual-mode neurostimulation could improve motor functions potentially through the effect of tsDCS over the spinal interneurons and tDCS over the primary motor cortex. Likewise, our findings suggested an improved performance in simulated taekwondo task after real- but not sham-stimulation. This study paves the way for designing neurostimulation protocols to improve the performance of professional athletes, namely martial art practitioners, including their accuracy and velocity of reactions. Such positive effects of neuostimulation in athletic performance as demonstrated in this research and similar reports are expected to enhance the athletes' success in professional competitions.
经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）是一种新兴的提高运动表现的经验方法。一些最近的研究调查了经皮脊髓直流电刺激（tsDCS）对运动表现（如反应时间）的影响。TDCS 和 tsDCS 可分别导致大脑皮层运动神经元和脊髓中间神经元的自发性神经活动和膜电位的改变。鉴于在运动神经科学领域，特别是武术运动领域，非侵入性脑刺激的实验研究很少，本研究旨在调查神经刺激在增强经验丰富的跆拳道运动员的运动和认知功能方面的作用。研究样本包括 15 名经验丰富的男性跆拳道运动员，他们在两次会议上（间隔 72 小时）分别接受真或假直流电刺激初级运动皮层（M1）和腰椎节段（T12-L2）。接下来，在假刺激和真刺激后，通过跆拳道运动模拟直接评估参与者的表现。此外，使用认知平台（CBS：剑桥脑科学）在每次情况下调查参与者的认知特征。与假刺激不同，真 tDCS 与模拟任务表现和认知测试中的选择性注意力和反应时间的提高相关。同时的皮质和跨脊髓 tDCS 被发现改善选择性注意力（提高 31%的表现）（P < 0.0001）[效应大小；1.84]。和减少反应时间（提高 4.7%的表现）（P < 0.0001）[效应大小；0.02]。同时，干预措施未能通过 CBS 评估的认知功能产生显著变化（P > 0.05）。根据我们的结果，本研究中的双模式神经刺激可以通过 tsDCS 对脊髓中间神经元和 tDCS 对初级运动皮层的作用来改善运动功能。同样，我们的发现表明，在真实刺激后而不是在假刺激后，模拟跆拳道任务的表现得到了改善。这项研究为设计神经刺激方案以提高专业运动员（包括武术运动员）的表现铺平了道路，包括他们的反应准确性和速度。正如本研究和类似报告所示，神经刺激对运动表现的积极影响有望提高运动员在职业比赛中的成功。
