Estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua em esportes de combate: efeito sobre o desempenho físico e cognitivo

Abstract

Transcranial direct current electrical stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique used to promote improvement in clinical symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases. There is evidence that tDCS could modulate the psychomotor abilities of athletes, which are important for the performance of these athletes. Among the combat sports, judo and jiu-jitsu are two types that represent fights with specific physical and cognitive demands. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a single stimulation in the M1 region (primary motor), on cognitive (anxiety, reaction time) and physical (strength, muscle power, flexibility) parameters in federated male athletes of these modalities. For that, the fighters were submitted to two experimental sessions of tDCS (sham and stimulated, 2 mA for 20 minutes), in a cross-over scheme (ABA), composed by psychomotor evaluations using as measures the jump against movement (JAM), Wells bank, manual and scapular dynamometry, IDATE (state-trait anxiety index) and reaction time, through the TReaction software. There were no statistically significant differences between pre- and post-stimulation conditions (sham or anodic) and in the percentage of difference between the two pre- and post-test conditions. Our results indicate that there are no effects of tDCS in this region and in the values used on the measured parameters.