Stimulation
CORTEX
Stimulation was delivered using a Neuro-MS/D rTMS device (Neurosoft Ltd. Ivanova, Russia) that was connected to an oil cooled figure eight coil (wing diameter 70 mm). Single pulses were delivered every five seconds to the contralesional motor cortex region. The coil was held tangentially to the scalp with the handle positioned at a 45-degree posterolateral angle. The optimal position (over the scalp) for evoking MEPs in the resting FDI muscle was located by systematically moving the coil in small increments, then marked with a permanent marker to ensure consistency for subsequent stimulation. An automated algorithm obtained RMT, defined as the lowest stimulus intensity to evoke a MEP of 0.05 mV in the relaxed FDI muscle in at least 5 out of 10 consecutive stimulations. Corticospinal excitability was measured by recording MEPs at 120% RMT and measuring peak-to-peak amplitudes. Blocks of 20 MEPs were completed at each time point (pre-activity, post-activity, 0 min post-iTBS, 5 min post-iTBS, 10 min post-iTBS and 15 min post-iTBS) to ensure reliability of MEP amplitude