ArticleBMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation2023
Non-linear dose response effect of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation on muscle strength in young healthy adults: a randomized controlled study.
Article in BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04672122 (The Effects of Cathodal tDCS on Muscle Strength in Healthy Adults), which is not on this map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
The Effects of Cathodal tDCS on Muscle Strength in Healthy Adults
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of anodal tDCS on resting state eeg power and motor function in acute stroke: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2024Trial
- Neural effects of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation over left supramarginal gyrus on cognitive empathy for pain.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Modulation of interhemispheric inhibition and motor learning by different intensities of bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation in healthy adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) in human motor Optimization: Mechanisms, safety, and emerging applications.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025Review
- Research progress on transcranial direct current stimulation for improving muscle strength: a narrative review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Neuronal effects of epicranial current stimulation in macaque cortex.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a technique that modulates brain excitability in humans. Increasing the stimulation intensity or duration within certain limits could enhance tDCS efficacy with a polarity-dependent effect; anodal stimulation increases cortical excitability, whereas cathodal stimulation decreases excitability. However, recent studies have reported a non-linear effect of cathodal tDCS on neuronal excitability in humans, and there is no conclusive result regarding the effect of cathodal tDCS on muscle performance.
methodsOur study aimed to investigate the immediate effects of different intensities (i.e., 1, 1.5, and 2 mA and sham tDCS) of cathodal tDCS on muscle strength in healthy participants. All participants [mean age 23.17 (3.90) years] were recruited and randomly allocated into four groups (1, 1.5, and 2 mA cathodal tDCS and sham tDCS). Muscle strength in bilateral upper and lower extremities was measured before and immediately after tDCS using a handheld dynamometer.
resultsOur results showed that cathodal tDCS at 1 and 1.5 mA reduced muscle strength bilaterally in upper and lower extremity muscles, whereas stimulation at 2 mA tended to increase muscle strength on the dominant limb.
conclusionThese findings support the non-linear effects of cathodal tDCS on muscle strength, which should be considered for the clinical use of tDCS in motor rehabilitation.
trial registrationNCT04672122, date of first registration 17/12/2020.
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Registered trials
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.