Table 4.
Study protocols from endurance exercises.
| References | Intervention protocol (a-tDCS) | Control | Endurance exercise characteristic | Main outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montage of electrodes | Electrode size (cm2) | Current intensity (mA) | Duration (min) | Muscle investigated | Exercise protocol | |||
| Angius et al., 2018 | Central MC (stimulus) and both ipsilateral shoulder (reference) | 35 (stimulus and reference) | 2 | 10 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Cycling TTF at 70%PPO | ↑ Endurance time |
| Okano et al., 2015 | Left TC (stimulus) and Right OBF (reference) | 35 (stimulus and reference) | 2 | 20 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Maximal incremental cycling test. From 15W+25W min_1 | ↑ PPO |
| Lattari et al., 2018a | Left DLPFC (stimulus) and Right OBF (reference) | 35 (stimulus and reference) | 2 | 20 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Cycling TTE at 100% PPO | ↑ Endurance time |
| Vitor-Costa et al., 2015 | Central MC (stimulus) and occipital protuberance (reference) | 36 (stimulus) and 35 (reference) | 2 | 13 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Cycling TTE at 80% PPO | ↑ Endurance time |
| Angius et al., 2015 | Left MC (stimulus) and Right DLPFC (reference) | 12 (stimulus and reference) | 2 | 10 | 30 (s) Sham and Control | Lower limbs | Cycling TTE at 70% PPO | No improvement |
| Barwood et al., 2016 | Left TC (stimulus) and Right OBF (reference) | 35 (stimulus and reference) | 2 | 20 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Study 1: 20 km TT; Study 2: TTE at 75% PPO | No improvement |
| Sasada et al., 2017 | Central MC (stimulus) and Right OBF (reference) | NS | 2 | 15 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Cycling, 30 s maximal-effort sprint cycling | No improvements |
| Holgado et al., 2019 | Left DLPFC (stimulus) and Contralateral shoulder (reference) | 25 (stimulus and reference) | 2 | 20 | 30 (s) Sham | Lower limbs | Cycling, 20-min TT | No improvements |
↑ increased; time to exhaustion (TTE); time to failure (TTF); time trial (TT); Power output (PO); peak power output (PPO); a-tDCS, anodal transcranial direct current stimulation; cm2, square centimeter; mA-milliamps; min, minutes; s, seconds; MC, motor cortex; DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; OBF, orbitofrontal cortex; W, watts; %, percentage; NR, not reported.