Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on performance of basketball free throws in skilled basketball players

The Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been studied in descriptive and laboratory tasks in the field of motor and sport skills. It is necessary that tDCS effects on real sport skills are investigated. The aim of the current study was to examine the Effect of tDCS on performance of basketball free throws (BFT) in skilled basketball players. In this quasi- experimental study, a repeated measure design including a pretest, intervention, posttest and follow up was used. A total of 26 male basketball players were randomly divided into either an experimental or a sham group. Both groups watched the point light model of the performance of elite basketball players. Following the observation of point light model, participants of the exercise group received tDCS over their pre-motor cortex for 20 minutes prior to tasks performance. The participants of the sham group underwent identical tasks performance except that tDCS was artificially applied for them. BFT was assessed at baseline (pre-intervention), intervention and post-intervention. For analyzing data, two factor Mixed model ANOVA, independent and paired t-tests were used. Results showed that anodal tDCS created no between group's differences in BFT in the intervention phase while tDCS lead to significant improvement of BFT in experimental group skills compared to sham group in test phase. Results showed that tDCS could be considered as a useful intervention for improvement of BFT in skilled basketball players.