Effects of tDCS on People With Fibromyalgia
Condition: Fibromyalgia
MeSH terms: Fibromyalgia; Myofascial Pain Syndromes
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      People with fibromyalgia could experience physical and cognitive impairment as well as higher
      dual-task cost than healthy people when two tasks are performed simultaneously. Transcranial
      direct current stimulation is a promising non-pharmacological therapy. However, there is
      insufficient evidence about the intensities dose-response. Therefore, this protocol aims to
      1) to compare the effectiveness and the impact of two tDCS intensities (1mA and 2mA) on
      cognitive, motor, brain functions, and cardiac autonomic modulation; 2) to study the impact
      of tDCS on the dual-task performance and creativity after applying tDCS in the dorsolateral
      prefrontal cortex. As hypotheses, a reduction of cognitive-motor interference in dual-task
      performance and also a modification in neurophysiological parameters, and an improvement in
      cardiac autonomic modulation are expected. Finally, no different effects are obtained
      depending on the intensity applied.
    

Detailed description: 
      Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain and other associated symptoms, including
      stiffness, fatigue, non-recovery sleep, anxiety, or depression. On a physical level, people
      with FM frequently suffer from a sedentary state which reduces cardiovascular fitness and
      leads to mobility, strength and balance impairments. On a cognitive level, people with FM
      have often impaired cognitive functions such as memory, attention, processing speed, and
      executive functions. As a result of all of these symptoms, people with FM have a decreased
      performance in activities of daily living that are commonly presented as a simultaneous
      execution of two or more task at the same time (dual-task; DT).

      To the knowledge of the investigators, no studies have focused on the application of
      transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
      to reduce the interference in DT performance. Furthermore, there are no studies that have
      studied the effects of different intensities of tDCS on DLPFC in people with FM in DT
      performance. Similarly, there are no studies that have focused on describing how
      neurophysiological variables may be modified in people with FM during DT performance.
      Therefore, it seems interesting to know how tDCS can influence these types of variables in
      order to improve the quality of life of this population and to open new frontiers for
      research.

      The hypotheses that are proposed for this study are as follows: a) the application of tDCS
      will improve physical performance in physical variables that will be measured through balance
      and strength tasks; b) the application of tDCS will improve performance on neurophysiological
      variables that will be measured through brain electrical activity and HRV; c) the application
      of tDCS will improve performance in DT conditions as well as in creativity tasks; d) tDCS
      will have different effects depending on the variability of fibromyalgia symptoms presented
      (pain, sleep problems and depression); e) no significant effects on the variables would be
      expected depending on the type of tDCS intensity applied.

      At this point, the main objectives of this protocol are: 1) to compare the effectiveness and
      the impact of two tDCS intensities (1mA and 2mA) on neurophysiological variables, cognitive,
      and motor functions; 2) to study the impact of tDCS on the dual-task performance and
      creativity after applying tDCS in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
    

Intervention name(s): Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Non-invasive technique that modulates the excitability of the cortex by applying low-intensity current
Observational model: Case-Crossover
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Healthy and fibromyalgia women living in Caceres (Spain) and the surrounding area
      
Keywords: Electroencephalography; EEG; Transcanial Stimulation; Strength