Xiao Songlin, Shen Bin, Zhang Chuyi, Xu Zhen, Li Jingjing, Fu Weijie, Jin Jing
School of Exercise and Health, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai 200438, China.
Key Laboratory of Exercise and Health Sciences of Ministry of Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai 200438, China.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2023 Aug 31;10(9):1029. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10091029.
In recent years, neuro-biomechanical enhancement techniques, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have been widely used to improve human physical performance, including foot biomechanical characteristics. This review aims to summarize research on the effects of tDCS on foot biomechanics and its clinical applications, and further analyze the underlying ergogenic mechanisms of tDCS. This review was performed for relevant papers until July 2023 in the following databases: Web of Science, PubMed, and EBSCO. The findings demonstrated that tDCS can improve foot biomechanical characteristics in healthy adults, including proprioception, muscle strength, reaction time, and joint range of motion. Additionally, tDCS can be effectively applied in the field of foot sports medicine; in particular, it can be combined with functional training to effectively improve foot biomechanical performance in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI). The possible mechanism is that tDCS may excite specific task-related neurons and regulate multiple neurons within the system, ultimately affecting foot biomechanical characteristics. However, the efficacy of tDCS applied to rehabilitate common musculoskeletal injuries (e.g., CAI and plantar fasciitis) still needs to be confirmed using a larger sample size. Future research should use multimodal neuroimaging technology to explore the intrinsic ergogenic mechanism of tDCS.
近年来，神经生物力学增强技术，如经颅直流电刺激（tDCS），已被广泛用于改善人类身体机能，包括足部生物力学特征。本综述旨在总结tDCS对足部生物力学影响及其临床应用的研究，并进一步分析tDCS潜在的促力机制。本综述检索了截至2023年7月在以下数据库中的相关论文：科学网、PubMed和EBSCO。研究结果表明，tDCS可以改善健康成年人的足部生物力学特征，包括本体感觉、肌肉力量、反应时间和关节活动范围。此外，tDCS可以有效地应用于足部运动医学领域；特别是，它可以与功能训练相结合，有效改善慢性踝关节不稳（CAI）患者的足部生物力学表现。可能的机制是，tDCS可能会激发特定的任务相关神经元，并调节系统内的多个神经元，最终影响足部生物力学特征。然而，应用tDCS治疗常见肌肉骨骼损伤（如CAI和足底筋膜炎）的疗效仍需要更大样本量的研究来证实。未来的研究应使用多模态神经成像技术来探索tDCS的内在促力机制。
