Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26042019›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2015

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to the cerebellum improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in focal hand dystonia.

Lynley V Bradnam, Lynton J Graetz, Michelle N McDonnell, Michael C Ridding

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed
6.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Brain network pathophysiology in dystonia.Dystonia (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Clinical neurophysiology in the treatment of movement disorders: IFCN handbook chapter.Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024
    Review
  10. Beyond Pallidal or Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Dystonia.Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.) · 2024
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Suitability of Automated Writing Measures for Clinical Trial Outcome in Writer's Cramp.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2023
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Treatment of focal hand dystonia: current status.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2021
    Review
  18. Dystonia and Cerebellum: From Bench to Bedside.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021
    Review
  19. New modalities and directions for dystonia care.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2021
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Lynley V BradnamDiscipline of Physiotherapy, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia ; Discipline of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Lynton J GraetzDiscipline of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Michelle N McDonnellSansom Institute for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Michael C RiddingRobinson Institute, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, University of Adelaide Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Flinders University · AUUniversity of Adelaide · AUUniversity of South Australia · AUUniversity of Technology Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that the cerebellum has a role in the pathophysiology of primary focal hand dystonia and might provide an intervention target for non-invasive brain stimulation to improve function of the affected hand. The primary objective of this study was to determine if cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in people with hand dystonia, by reducing cerebellar-brain inhibition (CBI) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Eight people with dystonia (5 writer's dystonia, 3 musician's dystonia) and eight age-matched controls completed the study and underwent cerebellar anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS in separate sessions. Dystonia severity was assessed using the Writer's Cramp Rating Scale (WRCS) and the Arm Dystonia Disability Scale (ADDS). The kinematic measures that differentiated the groups were; mean stroke frequency during handwriting and fast cyclic drawing and average pen pressure during light cyclic drawing. TMS measures of cortical excitability were no different between people with FHD and controls. There was a moderate, negative relationship between TMS-evoked CBI at baseline and the WRCS in dystonia. Anodal cerebellar tDCS reduced handwriting mean stroke frequency and average pen pressure, and increased speed and reduced pen pressure during fast cyclic drawing. Kinematic measures were not associated with a decrease in CBI within an individual. In conclusion, cerebellar anodal tDCS appeared to improve kinematics of handwriting and circle drawing tasks; but the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains uncertain. A study in a larger homogeneous population is needed to further investigate the possible therapeutic benefit of cerebellar tDCS in dystonia.

Indexed as

cerebellar-brain inhibitioncerebellumfocal hand dystoniahandwritingkinematicstranscranial direct current stimulation

Identifiers

PMID26042019
PMCPMC4435234
OpenAlexW1500704944

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.