Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Does Not Improve Countermovement Jump Performance in Young Healthy Men

Abstract

Romero-Arenas, S, Calderón-Nadal, G, Alix-Fages, C, Jerez-Martínez, A, Colomer-Poveda, D, and Márquez, G. Transcranial direct current stimulation does not improve countermovement jump performance in young healthy men. J Strength Cond Res 35(10): 2918–2921, 2021—The main purpose of this study was to report the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on countermovement jump (CMJ) performance in young healthy men. Seventeen healthy male subjects volunteered for the study (age: 22.4 ± 2.6 years; body mass: 71.8 ± 8.7 kg; height: 174.6 ± 5.9 cm; and CMJ height: 36.8 ± 6.3 cm). After a familiarization session, subjects underwent 3 experimental conditions, 7 days apart, in a randomized, double-blinded crossover design: anodal, cathodal, and sham tDCS. The stimulation was applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 15 minutes. During experimental sessions, subjects completed a warm-up and 3 CMJ trials separated by 1 minute before and after each of the 3 experimental conditions. Countermovement jump height and muscular peak power were extracted from the best CMJ in each moment. A 2-way repeated-measures analysis of variance with time and condition as factors were performed for CMJ height and muscular peak power. Effect size analysis was conducted using Cohen's d coefficient. The analysis did not show either significant main effects or interactions for both time and condition factors in the CMJ performance (p > 0.05). Furthermore, effect size was trivial for all conditions (d: 0.01–0.14) in CMJ height and muscular peak power. These findings suggest that tDCS may not be a valuable tool to improve vertical jump performance.

Effects of Preceding Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Movement Velocity and EMG Signal during the Back Squat Exercise

“…As in the present study, other studies have found no positive effects of a-tDCS on strength development in healthy participants [ 23 ], nor relevant effects on jumping performance [ 39 ], and also failed to show the effectiveness in improving sprint performance or reducing RPE during repeated sprint tasks [ 40 ]. Assuming that the ability to generate force is dependent on neural activity (i.e., synchronisation of motor units, as well as intermuscular coordination) and assuming that a-tDCS could facilitate this situation [ 41 ], further research is warranted to provide a better understanding of the effects of a-tDCS on diverse training programs and populations.…”

“…More recent studies [ 38 , 39 ] have shown contradictory results after the application of tDCS in regards to force production and sEMG activity. Whereas improvements on the rate of force development (RFD) and MVIC were reported in the non-dominant limb, no differences were found in the dominant leg [ 1 ].…”

Ergogenic Effects of Bihemispheric Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Fitness: a Randomized Cross-over Trial

“…Vertical jumping ability is quite relevant in a multitude of sports disciplines requiring this lower limb strength measure on a taskoriented basis [34]. However, conflicting evidence raises doubts on the tDCS capability of increasing jump performance, such as countermovement jump (CMJ) [35]. Disparate results might be due to the modality of stimulation, since some authors described positive findings [5,36], or no strength performance changes [35], after anodal tDCS.…”

“…However, conflicting evidence raises doubts on the tDCS capability of increasing jump performance, such as countermovement jump (CMJ) [35]. Disparate results might be due to the modality of stimulation, since some authors described positive findings [5,36], or no strength performance changes [35], after anodal tDCS. Other authors targeted the motor cortex bilaterally to successfully ameliorate CMJ performance [4].…”

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Muscle Strength of Non-dominant Knee in Healthy Young Males

“…Some studies have shown that this technique could effectively improve training and increase performance ( Huang et al, 2019 ; Alix-Fages et al, 2020 ; Vieira et al, 2020 ; Grosprêtre et al, 2021 ). Some studies have shown that tDCS does not affect lower limb strength ( Montenegro et al, 2015 ; Maeda et al, 2017 ; Romero-Arenas et al, 2019 ); however, this may be related to differences in the chosen electrode configuration or stimulation parameters. In a recent meta-analysis, it was shown that unilateral tDCS was more effective than bilateral tDCS in patients with stroke, while bilateral tDCS was more effective than unilateral tDCS to improve motor learning and motor performance in healthy subjects ( Halakoo et al, 2020 ).…”