Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Professional Female Soccer Players’ Recovery Following Official Matches

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with a recovery training session on the well-being and self-perceived recovery of professional female soccer players after official matches. Data from 13 world-class players were analyzed after participating in four official soccer matches of the first division of the Brazilian Women’s Soccer Championship (7-, 10-, and 13-day intervals). We applied anodal tDCS (a-tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with 2 mA for 20 minutes (+F3/−F4 montage) the day after each match. Participants underwent two randomly ordered sessions of a-tDCS or sham. Players completed the Well-Being Questionnaire (WBQ) and the Total Quality Recovery (TQR) scale before each experimental condition and again the following morning. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant time x condition interaction on the WBQ (F(1,11)=5.21; p=0.043; ηp2=0.32), but not on the TQR (F(1,12) = 0.552; p = 0.47; ηp2 = 0.044). There was a large effect size (ES) for a-tDCS for the WBQ score (ES = 1.02; 95%CI = 0.17;1.88), and there was a moderate WBQ score increase (ES = 0.53; 95%CI = −0.29;1.34) for the sham condition. We found similar increases in the TQR score for a-tDCS (ES = 1.50; 95%CI = 0.63–2.37) and the sham condition (ES = 1.36; 95%CI = 0.51–2.22). These results suggest that a-tDCS (+F3/−F4 montage) combined with a recovery training session may slightly improve perceived well-being beyond the level of improvement after only the recovery training session among world-class female soccer players. Prior to widely adopting this recovery approach, further study is needed with larger and more diverse samples, including for female teams of different performance levels.

The impact of bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of the premotor and cerebellar cortices on physiological and performance parameters of gymnastic athletes: a randomized, cross-over, sham-controlled study

“…Besides unspecific health- and fitness-related aspects, such as strength, speed, agility, reaction time, balance and coordination, also the athlete's technique and competence level in specific motor skills play an important role 3 . Improving exercise performance is aimed at both, individuals seeking health and fitness (i.e., non-athletes), and those who wish to improve athletic performance (i.e., athletes) 4 . Learning motor skills plays an important role in improving sports performance, which is generally defined as a set of processes aimed at learning and refining new skills by practice 5 , and associated with functional and structural changes in a distributed brain network for example the primary motor area 6 .…”

Effect of tDCS targeting the M1 or left DLPFC on physical performance, psychophysiological responses, and cognitive function in repeated all-out cycling: a randomized controlled trial

“…The tDCS montages and protocol used in the present study were similar to the study by Etemadi et al [ 30 ]. In M1 and DLPFC conditions, the electric current was gradually ramped up for 30 s, maintained at 2 mA for 20 min, and then progressively ramped down for 30 s. For the sham condition, the DLPFC montage was used but the 2-mA current was maintained active only for 30 s and then was ramped down for 30 s. This sham tDCS procedure has been shown to effectively blind participants [ 30 , 37 – 39 ]. Moreover, to avoid creating expectations effects [ 40 , 41 ], participants were not informed that there would be a sham stimulation condition [ 30 ].…”

Anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC but not M1 increases muscle activity and improves psychophysiological responses, cognitive function, and endurance performance in normobaric hypoxia: a randomized controlled trial

“…In M1 and DLPFC conditions, the current was gradually ramped up for 30 s, maintained at 2 mA for 20 min, and then progressively ramped down for 30 s. In the sham condition, the montage was the same as the DLPFC condition, and the same 30 s ramping up and down was used, but the 2-mA current was only maintained for 30 s. This sham protocol has been used in previous studies and has been shown to induce similar sensations as the active tDCS protocol [ 21 , 64 , 65 ]. Moreover, to make sure that the participants were effectively blinded to the stimulation conditions, they were not informed that there is a sham (inactive) stimulation condition.…”