Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Intervention and Exercise Performance:Effect and Application Strategy

Transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) is an important tool for noninvasive intervention and improve motor performance. By summary the literatures of the effects of tDCS on muscle strength, explosive strength, aerobic endurance, cognitive ability, fatigue recovery and analgesic effect in healthy people and athletes, it is found that: 1) tDCS can enhance muscle strength,explosive power and aerobic capacity of athletes and healthy people, improve fatigue perception threshold, improve cognitive ability,relieve neuromuscular fatigue and prolong athletes' continuous exercise time; 2) The components of tDCS intervention plan include electrode polarity, stimulus frequency, stimulus time, current intensity and electrode layout; 3) classic tDCS intervention mode of exercise performance: electrode area of 25~35 cm², current intensity of 1~2 mA, stimulation time of no more than 20 min; 4)When classical mode intervention is used, stimulus time and current are positively correlated with intervention effect. Application strategy: The combination of resistance training and tDCS intervention may improve the effects of different forms of resistance training(short-term resistance training, long-term resistance training, synchronous training, compound training and post-activation enhancement training, etc.). The application of tDCS in adolescent resistance training is worthy of attention. The application of tDCS in endurance training can improve the threshold of fatigue perception and the duration of exercise. tDCS may play an active role in improving the acquisition and improvement of motor skills. By activating before and during the competition with tDCS on the official competition day, it may have a positive effect on the regulation of athletes' competition status. After competition and training, tDCS can relieve nerve and muscle fatigue, inhibit muscle pain, and improve the effect of athletes' fatigue recovery. Based on the positive effects of tDCS intervention, it is suggested that tDCS should be used as a new way to explore athletes' potential and improve sports performance.