Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for improving function and activities of daily living in patients after stroke

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Improves Paretic Limb Force Production: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Further, these meta-analytic findings were consistent with previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses that reported benefits of the NIBS techniques on stroke motor function assessed by various clinical assessments [25,26,28]. Thus, the present findings extended the positive effects of NIBS techniques on stroke motor recovery as indicated by quantifying a common outcome measure, paretic limb force production.…”

“…Previous meta-analysis studies reported that balanced cortical activity between M1 of the hemispheres following tDCS or rTMS protocols may contribute to motor improvements in paretic limbs (e.g., various clinical assessments or activities of daily living) [25][26][27][28]. However, Chhatbar and Feng pointed out that these meta-analytic findings are still susceptible to inconsistency in outcome measures as well as selection criteria [29].…”

Deficits of reach-to-grasp coordination following stroke: Comparison of instructed and natural movements

“…A further limitation of the current study relates to the fixed task order (subjects were tested first in context E and thereafter in context L), which was used to avoid the Hawthorne effect (Wickstrom and Bendix, 2000) according to which the knowledge to participate in a grasping study might affect the grasping responses in context E. Especially for intervention studies (Elsner et al, 2013;Pollock et al, 2014), a randomized task order would be desirable. Fortunately, the putative effects of task order on the observed context-dependent kinematic differences were specifically investigated in a recent study (Baak and Bock, 2014).…”

Multiple sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation and upper extremity rehabilitation in stroke: A review and meta-analysis

“…Recent meta-analyses have explored the effect of tDCS in addition to rehabilitation on UE activity in stroke (Bastani and Jaberzadeh, 2012;Adeyemo et al, 2012;Butler et al, 2013;Elsner et al, 2013). Adeyemo et al (2012) demonstrated a significant effect size (0.58) of non-invasive brain stimulation on motor function.…”

“…Butler et al (2013) also demonstrated a significant small effect size of 0.40 of anodal tDCS on UE motor recovery. A Cochrane review showed that tDCS has a small effect on UE motor impairments but not on activities of daily living at post-intervention (Elsner et al, 2013). However, at follow-up they showed an effect of tDCS on activities of daily living but not on UE motor impairments.…”