Abstract
Transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) increases corticospinal and spinal reflex excitability, and may be a new tool for increasing muscle explosive performance in sports training. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether tsDCS can enhance jumping ability in trained humans practicing volleyball. Twenty eight participants completed the study, including 21 men and 7 women. We investigated the effects of a single 15-minute session of sham, anodal, and cathodal tsDCS over spine and shoulder on repeated counter movement jump (CMJ) and squat jump (SJ) performance at 0, 30 and 60 min post-stimulation. The order of SJs and CMJs sets in each session was randomized. Each SJ and CMJ set consisted of 3 jumps. The break between each attempt was 1 min and the interval between the sets was 3 min. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA did not show effect of time, nor stimulation method, nor stimulation method × time interactions on SJ (time: F(1.8,142.1) = 1.054; p = 0.346, stimulation: F(2,78) = 0.019; p = 0.981, stimulation × time: F(3.6,142.1) = 0.725; p = 0.564) or CMJ (time: F(1.8,140.9) = 2.092; p = 0.132, stimulation: F(2,78) = 0.005; p = 0.995, stimulation × time: F(3.6,140.9) = 0.517; p = 0.705) performance. Single session of tsDCS over spine and shoulder does not increase jumping height in well-trained volleyball players. This is an important finding for coaches and strength conditioning professionals for understanding the practical utility of tsDCS for enhancing muscular explosiveness.
Highlights
In volleyball, athletes and coaches pay special attention toward testing and developing maximum jumping ability to advance the level of playing (Sheppard et al, 2011)
The pain of the lower limb musculature reported by the participants was very low and amounted to 1.0 ± 1.4, 0.8 ± 1.2 and 0.9 ± 1.1 points of the Visual analogue scale (VAS) before the sham, anodal and cathodal jumping sessions, respectively (F(2,84) = 0.167; p = 0.846)
The intensity of pain in lower limb musculature was assessed before each Transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) session
Summary
Athletes and coaches pay special attention toward testing and developing maximum jumping ability to advance the level of playing (Sheppard et al, 2011). During the game the highest percentage of jumps is performed by the players in order to block, to attack, and lastly to serve the ball (Vilamitjana et al, 2008). Players usually use two types of jumps without approach and arm swing to block a ball during the opponent attack. The first type is without (squatting jump, SJ) and the second is with a preliminary lower limb counter-movement (counter-movement jump, CMJ). The latter is a critical game element to obtain the optimal jumping range (Sheppard et al, 2008)
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