5.1. Application of tDCS on the Cerebellum
CEREBELLUM, CORTEX
Cerebellum has an important role in postural control [In this study, we applied the tDCS on the cerebellum on 12 sessions over a 4-week period with a significant effect on balance indexes. In line with previous studies such as Inukai et al., Hupfeld et al., and Kaminski et al., the findings of the current study confirm that applying tDCS can improve balance indexes [It has been shown that applying tDCS on the cerebellum enhances functional connectivity between the cerebellum and motor cortex, which can finally lead to improving the integration of information and postural control and developing the quality of connection between the cerebellum and other parts of the brain [Additionally, the present study revealed that the combination of MI training and applying tDCS over the cerebellum had significant effects on improving balance indexes. There is a possibility that the effect of this combined intervention on balance indexes was just due to the effect of tDCS over the cerebellum only, and MI training did not have any effect on these indexes at all. However, we need to consider that as this intervention was delivered 3 times per week for 4 weeks, the tDCS sessions might act as a priming intervention for the following MI training session especially when they gradually develop some accumulative effects and therefore increase the MI training effect on these balance indexes. This possibility needs to be assessed in future studies as we did not have a group of participants who just received tDCS over the cerebellum to be able to compare the results between the groups.