title: Transcranial direct current stimulation during treadmill training in children with cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled double-blind clinical trial.
abstract: Impaired gait constitutes an important functional limitation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Treadmill training has achieved encouraging results regarding improvements in the gait pattern of this population. Moreover, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is believed to potentiate the results achieved during the motor rehabilitation process. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of the administration of tDCS during treadmill training on the gait pattern of children with spastic diparetic CP. A double-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out involving 24 children with CP allocated to either an experimental group (active anodal tDCS [1mA] over the primary motor cortex of the dominant hemisphere) or control group (placebo tDCS) during ten 20-min sessions of treadmill training. The experimental group exhibited improvements in temporal functional mobility, gait variables (spatiotemporal and kinematics variables). The results were maintained one month after the end of the intervention. There was a significant change in corticospinal excitability as compared to control group. In the present study, the administration of tDCS during treadmill training potentiated the effects of motor training in children with spastic diparetic CP.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidade Nove de Julho, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Pediatric Neurosurgical Center (CENEPE), São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Laboratory of Neuromodulation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: luandagrecco@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Luanda André Collange
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Grecco
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidade Nove de Julho, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Pediatric Neurosurgical Center (CENEPE), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Natália
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Almeida Carvalho Duarte
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences and Behavior, Psychology Institute, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariana E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Verônica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cimolin
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy; IRCCS "San Raffaele Pisana", Tosinvest Sanità, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuromodulation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fregni
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidade Nove de Julho, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santos Oliveira
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D009044:Motor Cortex; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cerebral palsy; Functional mobility; Transcranial direct current stimulation; Treadmill training