The Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Postural Control in Healthy Young and Older Adults: A systematic-Review

Background and Objective: Postural control and balance plays a major role in standing, walking and other daily activities. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique that can change corticospinal excitability to improve postural control. The effects of tDCS on postural control have been investigated in healthy young and older adults. The aim of this systematic review was to systematically analyze studies which investigate the effects of tDCS on balance in health young and older adults.Search Method: 9 electronic databases were searched papers reporting the effect of tDCS on postural control. The methodological quality of selected studies was examined using the PEDro scale.Findings: The mean score of 7.27 for 12 included studies indicates total good quality.The method of studies was different in stimulation and outcomes. However it seems that stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could increase the dual task balance ability rather than the single task. There is controversy about the effect of stimulation of cerebellum and motor cortex and there is limited evidence on effect of other areas stimulation on postural control.Two studies showed no effect of tDCS on static and one study reported that tDCS could not improve dynamic. In Contrast, five studies claimed that tDCS could improve static balance and four studies report some positive effects of tDCS on postural control. It seems that age is not an important factor in predicting effect of tDCS on postural control. The side effects were not reported in five studies and other studies claimed that tDCS had not any side effect.Conclusion: There is some evidence indicating tDCS is a safe technique which could improve the postural control in healthy young and older adults. However, because of the heterogeneity of methods there are questions on the treatment protocols and any conclusion on this area should be considered cautiously.

کلیدواژه ها:

Transcranial direct current stimulation ، postural control ، older adults