Anodal tDCS improves the effect of neuromuscular training on the feedforward activity of lower extremity muscles in female taekwondo athletes with dynamic knee valgus

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 20007 - 13
• Main Authors: Moshashaei, Mozhdeh Sadat, Gandomi, Farzaneh, Amiri, Ehsan, Maffulli, Nicola
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.08.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/378; 631/443; 639/925; 692/700; Adolescent; Adult; Athletes; Electrical stimulation of the brain; Electromyography; ESB; Excitability; Female; Females; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Joint and ligament injuries; Kinematics; Knee; Knee - physiology; Knee Joint - physiology; Leg; Lower Extremity - physiology; Martial arts; Martial Arts - physiology; Medicine; multidisciplinary; Muscle function; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Muscles; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sports injuries; Training; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - methods; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-70328-3

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can increase cortical excitability of a targeted brain area. This study aimed to investigate the effect of adding anodal-tDCS (a-tDCS) to neuromuscular training (NMT) on the dynamic knee valgus (DKV) and feedforward activity (FFA) of knee muscles. Thirty-four Taekwondo athletes with DKV, were randomly assigned to either NMT + a-tDCS (N = 17) or NMT + sham tDCS (N = 17). DKV and the knee muscles' FFA at the moment of single and double-leg landing and lateral hopping tasks were evaluated before and after the interventions. DKV and FFA of the knee muscles was improved in all tasks ( P  < 0.05), however, between-group differences were not significant ( P  > 0.05). The FFA of the semitendinosus, vastus medialis, gluteus medius, and gastrocnemius muscles in the single-leg landing ( P  < 0.05), the gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, semitendinosus, biceps femoris, and gastrocnemius muscles in the double-leg landing ( P  < 0.05), and the gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, and gastrocnemius muscles in the lateral hopping ( P  < 0.05) tasks were significantly different between the groups. A-tDCS achieved significantly larger improvements in the feedforward activity of lower extremity muscles compared with sham-tDCS. However, between-group comparisons did not show a significant difference in DKV.