Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Sports Performance

Okano et al. studied the effects of 20 min of tDCS with the anode over the left temporal cortex (T3) on trained cyclists (Okano et al., 2013) during an incremental cycling test, and found significantly improved peak power, as well as reduced heart rate and perception of effort at submaximal workloads. Clarke et al. evaluated the effects of tDCS on a perceptual-learning paradigm (object detection in a simulated combat environment), showing significant enhancement of threat-detection accuracy with tDCS with the anode over the right inferior frontal cortex (Clark et al., 2012). There have been further positive (Cogiamanian et al., 2007; Abdelmoula et al., 2016) and negative (Kan et al., 2013; Muthalib et al., 2013) reports on the effects of tDCS with the anode over M1 on isolated muscle groups, such as the elbow flexor, and it is important to consider how post-exercise measurement of a unique muscle group in non-athletes might relate to conditions of athletic performance (Angius et al., 2017). Conflict of Interest Statement AP serves on the scientific advisory boards for Nexstim, Neuronix, Starlab Neuroscience, Neuroelectrics, Axilum Robotics, Magstim Inc., and Neosync; and is listed as an inventor on several issued and pending patents on the real-time integration of transcranial magnetic stimulation with electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging.