The Effect of Combining Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Treatment and an Exercise Program on Fragility in a Population with Multiple Sclerosis: Cross-Over Design Trial

Inés Muñoz-Paredes (), Azael J. Herrero, Rocío Llamas-Ramos, Vicente Rodríguez-Pérez and Jesús Seco-Calvo ()
Additional contact information
Inés Muñoz-Paredes: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Leon, 24071 León, Spain
Azael J. Herrero: Department of Health Sciences, European University Miguel de Cervantes, 47012 Valladolid, Spain
Rocío Llamas-Ramos: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Vicente Rodríguez-Pérez: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Jesús Seco-Calvo: Institute of Biomedicine (BIOMED), University of Leon, 24071 León, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: Background: The relationship between fragility and neurological diseases is extensive and affects many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), whose risk factors are related to fragility. Objective: To study the effects of exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in MS patients with fatigue from four dimensions: functional mobility, balance, fatigue, and depression. Methods: A total of 12 patients who belonged to two associations of people with physical disabilities participated. Functional mobility, depression, balance, and fatigue were assessed before and after the intervention. Transcranial direct current stimulation and the exercise program were carried out over a 4-week period with a wash-out period of 5 months. Results: After the application of tDCS, we found significant improvements in balance ( p < 0.05, g = 0.632), depression ( p < 0.05, g = 0.402), functional mobility ( p < 0.05, g = 0.297), and fatigue ( p < 0.05, g = 0.526). After the exercise program, significant improvements were shown in balance ( p < 0.01, g = 0.418), depression ( p < 0.001, g = 0.540), functional mobility ( p < 0.01, g = 0.262), and fatigue ( p < 0.01, g = 0.742). Two-way mixed-measures ANOVA showed that all variables improved in both groups, with significant differences over time but not between groups. Secondary analysis showed significant correlations between balance and functional mobility (r = 0.671, p = 0.017), depression and fatigue (r = 0.586, p = 0.044) and between intensity of rehabilitation and balance (r = 0.622, p = 0.031). CONCLUSION: Participating in an exercise program and receiving tDCS separately improved the variables of depression, balance, mobility, and fatigue.

Keywords: depression; functional mobility; balance; physical training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12747/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12747/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12747-:d:934081

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().