The effectiveness of direct transcranial electrical stimulation on the performance of elite soccer players

The aim of the present study is to stimulate transcranial direct current on the performance of elite soccer players. The current study is a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design. The statistical population of this research was the elite male football players of Tehran province in 1401, 36 of whom were selected by available sampling and randomly divided into 3 visual cortex stimulation groups (12 people), sham stimulation (12 people) and control group (12 people) were divided. The direct transcranial electrical stimulation intervention was such that the electrodes are placed in the Oz anode and Cz cathode in the stimulation of the visual cortex. Correlated t-test was used to independently examine the variables in the investigated groups. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 24 statistical software at a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that the average performance of football players increased from 47.80 ± 10.15 to 49.60 ± 9.32% after electrical stimulation of ltdcs in the visual cortex tDCS group, but according to the significance level, the difference is 0.05 Dar is not visible in this group (P-Value<0.05). The results showed that electrical stimulation of the visual cortex does not affect the performance of skilled soccer players. Considering the positive effects of electrical stimulation on the performance of football athletes, it is suggested to perform electrical stimulation from other areas of the cerebral cortex, especially the motor cortex and the DLPFC area, which is emphasized in the research background.