Abstract
Background: The better performance of elite athletes than others may be due to their better mental and psychological advantages. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an attractive technique to improve the physical and mental functions in recent years. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effects of single and dual tDCS of M1 and DLPFC regions on motor and cognitive functions in male gymnasts. Methods: Sixteen male gymnasts (age mean = 21.70 ± 0.66 years) who were selected randomly, exposed to 4 different intervention conditions in 4 separate sessions with a one-week interval between the sessions, including (1) anodal stimulation of the M1 area; (2) anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC area; (3) simultaneous stimulation of M1 and DLPFC areas; (4) sham stimulation. After ensuring the normal distribution using shapiro-whilk test, gathered data were analyzed with two- way repeated measures ANOVA. Results: The results showed that single and dual tDCS of M1 and DLPFC regions had a significant effect on improving bimanual coordination, eye-hand coordination, reaction time, working memory, and selective attention of male gymnasts. Also, considering the observed effect size, the M1& DLPFC stimulation condition had a greater effect than other stimulation conditions. Conclusions: Based on present findings coaches and sports physiologists can improve the performance of their athletes with inclusion single and dual tDCS into their training routines.