The effects of consecutive sessions of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation over the primary motor cortex on hand function in healthy older adults

Abstract Background With advancing age, changes in the central nervous system may lead to motor functional deficits. Non-invasive Brain stimulation techniques are suggested to help modifing brain function. Objectives The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of using multi session anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (a-tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) on the hand function in healthy older adults. Method In this randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled study 32 participants received active or sham a-tDCS (1 mA, 20 minutes, for five consecutive days) and performed the Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT) on the first day before tDCS application, immediately (T1), 30 minutes (T2), and one week after the last session (5th day) (T3) of the stimulation. Results There was significant improvement for PPT (p  Conclusion The current findings suggest a-tDCS can be considered as a promising stand-alone technique in the intervention of the age-related decline of manual dexterity for improving hand function.