An interventional study of tDCS in Fatigue Recovery and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), sponsored by Beijing Sport University. Completed at 1 site in China. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-09.
Sponsored by Beijing Sport University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if tDCS works to treat fatigue state in athletes. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does tDCS on the physical performance in high-level volleyball players during dual fatigue.
What montages have the best effects on fatigue state. Researchers will compare tDCS to a placebo (sham stimulation) to see if tDCS have the effects on fatigue state in athletes.
Participants will:
Received four 10 min sessions tDCS in counterbalanced order.
Twenty volleyball players were tested in a counterbalanced sham-controlled trial. Following dual fatigue induced by 60-min trial at 60% peak power output combined with a Stroop test, subjects received four 10 min sessions of 2 mA anodal tDCS over M1 (tDCSM1), DLPFC (tDCSDLPFC), M1+DLPFC (tDCSM1+DLPFC), or sham stimulation (tDCSSHAM). Spike test, medicine ball test, counter movement jump, T-test, 30-m sprint, and 15-s rebound jump were conducted at baseline, immediately after (post1), and 40-min after tDCS intervention (post2). Heart rate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and visual analogue scale (VAS) were measured after each procedure.
1,912 studies on the registry are indexed under Fatigue; 381 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 20 is below the median of 53 across 1,479 interventional studies indexed under Fatigue.
Browse Fatigue studies →Beijing Sport University is the lead sponsor of 52 studies on the registry; 9 are open to participants now.
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For the M1-channel, the anode electrode was placed on Cz, C1 and C2 (5 x 7 cm), and the reference (5 x 5 cm) was placed on the right shoulder.
Device: tDCS
For the DLPFC-channel, the anode electrode was placed on the F3 (5 x 5 cm), and the reference (5 x 5 cm) was placed on the left shoulder.
Device: tDCS
dual a-tDCS was performed in both channels
Device: tDCS
In sham stimulation, the stimulator was turned off after 30 s of stimulation. Ramp up and down period lasted 15 s in all conditions.
Device: tDCS
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation tool that modulates cortical excitability and spontaneous brain activity via low-intensity currents.
Spike test
The spike test was used as previously described (Valades, 2009) to measure spiking performance. Subjects self-tossed the ball (Molten V5M5000), and then spike toward a 1.5 × 1.5-m target zone with maximal strength without jumping off the ground. Ball velocity was measured by radar gun (Bushnell Outdoor Products, Kansas, USA) situated in the target zone. Each player completed three trials, and the fastest ball speed was used in the analyses.
Time frame: At Baseline, immediately following stimulation, and 40-min following stimulation
Medicine ball test
The medicine ball test was used to measure upper limb strength (D et al., 2018). Subjects stood behind a line with their feet side by side but slightly separated, the 2-kg ball was initially drawn back behind the head, then propelled forward to achieve maximum distance. Each player completed two trials, and the best one was used in the analyses.
Time frame: At Baseline, immediately following stimulation, and 40-min following stimulation
Counter movement jump
The countermovement jump was used to measure lower limb strength and jumping performance (Del Coso et al., 2014). Following an auditory cue, the participant flexed his knees and jumped as high as possible, keeping his hands on his waist, and landed with both feet on the optical jump system (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). Each subject carried out three trials, and the highest jump was used in the analyses.
Time frame: At Baseline, immediately following stimulation, and 40-min following stimulation
T-test
A modified T-test was used to measure agility and change of direction ability. As previously described (Sassi et al., 2009), subjects started with both feet positioned behind a starting line (cone A), then sprinted forward 5 m and touched the cone B. Then, they shuffled sideways to the left (2.5 m) and touched cone C. They then did the same side shuffling to the right (5 m) and touched cone D. They then shuffled back to the cone B, and backpedal to the cone A. All subjects completed two attempts, and the fastest time was measured by timing gates (Wireless timing systems, Shiniangong, China) used in the analyses.
Time frame: At Baseline, immediately following stimulation, and 40-min following stimulation
30-m sprint test
Linear sprinting performance was measured by a 30-m sprint (Meckel et al., 2015), and the speed measure was obtained by a timing gate. All subjects started approximately 0.4 m behind the starting gate. All subjects completed two attempts and the highest speed was used in the analyses.
Time frame: At Baseline, immediately following stimulation, and 40-min following stimulation
15-s rebound jump test
The 15-s rebound jump was used to measure continuous jumping performance (Del Coso et al., 2014). The subjects put their hands on their hips and performed continuous vertical jumps on the Optojump system. The average jump height was used in the analyses.
Time frame: At Baseline, immediately following stimulation, and 40-min following stimulation
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Beijing Sport University