Improvement of sprint performance by Neural boosting

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K16498
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sports science
• Research Institution: Sagami Women's Junior College
• Principal Investigator: SASADA Syusaku 相模女子大学短期大学部, その他部局等, 准教授 (80624824)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 中枢性疲労 / 直流電流刺激 / ニューロモジュレーション / 移動行動 / スプリントパフォーマンス / 持久性パフォーマンス / エルゴジェニック効果

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Running speed in a short-distance sprint gradually decreases after reaching the maximum. The deterioration of sprint motor performance could be account for by a decrease in descending commands from the central nervous system to active muscles. Direct current stimulation (DCS) to the spinal cord and motor cortex has been used to modulate and enhance descending commands. Therefore, we investigated how sprint motor performance was modulated after DCS to the motor cortex and spinal cord.
Power during sprint cycling over 30 s was significantly increased after cathodal DCS to the spinal cord. Neither anodal nor cathodal DCS to the motor cortex could not induce improvement of sprint cycling performance. On the other hand, the anodal DCS to the motor cortex could induce improvement of the endurance cycling.

Free Research Field

運動生理学