ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2022
Combined neuromuscular electrical stimulation and transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation increases motor cortical plasticity in healthy humans.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy of combined and single neuromuscular electrical stimulation and traditional swallowing training for neurogenic dysphagia: a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Combining Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation with Activity Based Training in Children with Chronic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: A Retrospective Case Series.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Evaluating diaphragm motor response variability in electric and magnetic phrenic nerve stimulations during passive expiration.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2026Article
- Evaluating diaphragm motor response variability in electric and magnetic phrenic nerve stimulations during passive expiration.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) induces neural plasticity of the central nervous system (CNS) and improves motor function in patients with CNS lesions. However, the extended stimulus duration of NMES reduces its clinical applicability. Transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS), which increases afferent input, may enhance the effects and reduce the stimulus duration of NMES. This study investigated the excitability of the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and spinal motor neurons after the combined stimulation of NMES and tsDCS. Methods: Among the 55 participants in this study, 24 were allocated to experiment 1, 15 to experiment 2, and 16 to experiment 3. They received intervention for 20 min on different days: (1) NMES combined with tsDCS (NMES + tsDCS), (2) NMES combined with sham tsDCS (NMES + sham tsDCS), and (3) sham NMES combined with tsDCS (sham NMES + tsDCS). NMES was delivered to the right common peroneal nerve at 25 Hz with the intensity at 120% of the motor threshold. For tsDCS, the cathodal electrode was positioned on the thoracic 10th-12th vertebral levels, and the anodal electrode was located on the right shoulder. The stimulus intensity was 2.5 mA. In experiment 1, motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and short-latency intracortical inhibition (SICI) were measured by transcranial magnetic stimulation up to 60 min after stimulation. The spinal motor neurons' excitability was assessed by recording the posterior root muscle reflex (PRMR) induced Results: Compared to before the stimulation, NMES + tsDCS significantly increased MEP for 60 min or more, and significantly decreased SICI immediately after. Conversely contrast, the PRMR significantly decreased immediately after, and SEPs were unchanged. Discussion: These results suggest that simultaneous afferent inputs from different stimulus positions critically induce primary motor cortex plasticity. The combined stimulation of NMES with tsDCS may facilitate the development of a new neurorehabilitation technique.
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