. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Aug 5.

Published in final edited form as: Princ Pract Clin Res. 2020 May 21;6(1):23–26. doi: 10.21801/ppcrj.2020.61.5

Table 1:

Summary of Studies That Compared the Analgesic Effect of tDCS Combined with a Physical Therapy Modality vs. Physical Therapy Alone on Common MSK Conditions.

Author, Year	Country	Study Design	N	MSK Condition	PTM	PTM Duration	Characteristics of tDCS	Characteristics of tDCS Sessions	tDCS & PTM Sequence	Pain Scale	Pain Assessment Intervals	Intervention Groups	# of patients in each arm	Mean age ±SD (years)	% Female	Average duration of pain symptoms ± SD (months)	Timepoint Pain Assessment chosen for meta-analysis (weeks)	Mean difference in pain score between baseline and Timepoint Pain Assessment chosen for analysis ± SD
Luedtke et al²⁴, 2015	Germany	RCT	135	Chronic Low Back Pain	CBT	daily sessions × 4 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 left (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Sequential	0–100 VAS	Baseline, week 5, 9, 17, 29	tDCS + CBT	67	45 ± 9	49	98 ± 106	5	−22	±	3.8
Luedtke et al²⁴, 2015	Germany	RCT	135	Chronic Low Back Pain	CBT	daily sessions × 4 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 left (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Sequential	0–100 VAS	Baseline, week 5, 9, 17, 29	sham tDCS + CBT	68	44 ± 10	44	93 ± 125	5	−25	±	3.09
Hazime et a²⁵l, 2017	Brazil	RCT	92	Chronic Low Back Pain	PES	3 sessions/ week × 4 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Three 20-minute sessions per week × 4 weeks	Concurrent	0–10 VAS	Baseline, week 4, 12, 24	tDCS + PES	23	51.3 ± 9.9	78.3	37.3 ± 39.4	4	−45^*	±	4.97
Hazime et a²⁵l, 2017	Brazil	RCT	92	Chronic Low Back Pain	PES	3 sessions/ week × 4 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Three 20-minute sessions per week × 4 weeks	Concurrent	0–10 VAS	Baseline, week 4, 12, 24	sham tDCS + PES	23	53 ± 9.9	65.2	59.7 ± 59.7	4	−45^*	±	5.44
Straudi et al²⁶, 2018	Italy	RCT	35	Chronic Low Back Pain	Group exercise	10 sessions over 1 month	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Sequential	0–100 VAS	Baseline, week 1, 5, 9	tDCS + Group Exercise	18	54.3 ± 12.4	66.7	9.4 ± 9.2	5	−21.2	±	30.7
Straudi et al²⁶, 2018	Italy	RCT	35	Chronic Low Back Pain	Group exercise	10 sessions over 1 month	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Sequential	0–100 VAS	Baseline, week 1, 5, 9	Sham tDCS + Group Exercise	17	56 ± 12.9	82.3	7.8 ± 5.3	5	−7.2	±	32.5
Riberto et al²⁷, 2011	Brazil	RCT	23	Fibromyalgia	MRP	3 sessions/week × 16 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	One 20-minute session per week × 10 weeks	Overlap	SF-36 pain domain, VAS	Baseline, week 16	tDCS + MRP	11	58.3 ± 12.1	100	9.9 ± 11.8	16	−19^†	±	5.12
Riberto et al²⁷, 2011	Brazil	RCT	23	Fibromyalgia	MRP	3 sessions/week × 16 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	One 20-minute session per week × 10 weeks	Overlap	SF-36 pain domain, VAS	Baseline, week 16	Sham tDCS + MRP	12	52.4 ± 11.5	100	6.4 ± 10.2		−4.8^†	±	5.24
Mendonca et al²⁸, 2016	Brazil	RCT	45	Fibromyalgia	AE	3 sessions/week × 4 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Overlap	0–10 VAS	Baseline, week 4, 8, 12	tDCS + AE	15	44.5 ± 14	93.3	140.6 ± 72.2	12	−23^*	±	7.67
Mendonca et al²⁸, 2016	Brazil	RCT	45	Fibromyalgia	AE	3 sessions/week × 4 weeks	2mA anodal on M1 (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Overlap	0–10 VAS	Baseline, week 4, 8, 12	sham tDCS + AE	15	48 ± 11.8	100	149.3 ± 111.1	12	−13^*	±	8.17
Sakrajai et al²⁹, 2014	Thailand	RCT	31	Myofascial pain syndrome	Active Stretching Exercise + Ultrasound therapy + Hot packs	daily stretching + US/hot packs 3 times/week × 2 weeks	1mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Overlap	0–10 VAS	Baseline, weekly × 4 weeks	tDCS + Physical Modality	16	49.9 ± 8.3	68.8	5.91 ± 2.55	4	−38.2^*	±	1.98
Sakrajai et al²⁹, 2014	Thailand	RCT	31	Myofascial pain syndrome	Active Stretching Exercise + Ultrasound therapy + Hot packs	daily stretching + US/hot packs 3 times/week × 2 weeks	1mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Five 20-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Overlap	0–10 VAS	Baseline, weekly × 4 weeks	sham tDCS + Physical Modality	15	45.93 ± 10.2	73.3	5.69 ± 1.69		−37.7^*	±	1.98
Chang et al³⁰, 2017	Australia	RCT	30	Knee Osteoarthritis	Strengthening Exercises	2 class sessions + 2 home sessions/week × 8 weeks	1mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Two 20-minute sessions per week × 8 weeks	Sequential	0–100 VAS	Baseline, week 9	tDCS + Exercise	13	59.8 ± 9.1	73.3	86.4 ± 63.6	8	−35.8	±	6
Chang et al³⁰, 2017	Australia	RCT	30	Knee Osteoarthritis	Strengthening Exercises	2 class sessions + 2 home sessions/week × 8 weeks	1mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Two 20-minute sessions per week × 8 weeks	Sequential	0–100 VAS	Baseline, week 9	sham tDCS + Exercise	12	64.1 ± 11.1	60	108 ± 87.6	8	−22.8	±	8.96
da Graca-Tarragó et al³¹, 2019	Brazil	RCT	60	Knee Osteoarthritis	EIMS	5 session/week × 1 week	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Five 30-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Concurrent	0–100 VAS	Baseline, day 5	tDCS + EIMS	15	66 ± 9.1	100	--	0.71	−64.1	±	6.11
da Graca-Tarragó et al³¹, 2019	Brazil	RCT	60	Knee Osteoarthritis	EIMS	5 session/week × 1 week	2mA anodal on M1 contralateral (35cm²)	Five 30-minute sessions per week × 1 week	Concurrent	0–100 VAS	Baseline, day 5	sham tDCS + EIMS	15	64.4 ± 6	100	--	0.71	−42.2	±	8.19

RCT: Randomized Controlled Trial; MSK: musculoskeletal; VAS: Visual Analog Scale; tDCS: transcranial direct current stimulation; PTM: physical therapy modality; PES: Peripheral Electrical Stimulation; CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; MRP: Multidisciplinary rehabilitation program; AE: Aerobic Exercise; EIMS: Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation.

Estimates changed to mm scale;

^†

Change from baseline – T Long term (on SF-36 scale) .