Understand Fatigue's Brain Mechanism of Endurance Performance in Highly Trained Runners: A Quantification and Modulation Study
SASSI-funded student in charge of the project: Gleydciane Alexandre Fernandes, Ph.D. Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Caroline Paquette
Project status: Underway
Project summary:
Fatigue is one of the most critical limiting factors for endurance running performance. However, little is known about brain fatigue mechanisms during endurance sports. Non-invasive brain stimulation is an innovative technique that has been used to investigate brain function. It has never been used to study the brain in exercise performance. Therefore, my project research goal is to determine the effect of brain stimulation on runners’ fatigue and performance. For that, I used a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which alters the brain’s excitability. We then monitored the impact of the stimulation on fatigue and endurance performance outputs in highly trained runners.
Relevance to Sports Science: This study's results will shed light on cognitive and motor brain regions that play an important role in fatigue and performance in endurance runners. In addition, TMS has the potential to be used as a tool or complement in training programs to enhance performance and help humans go above their limits. The significant outcomes generated by TMS effects in this study could make substantial contributions across multiple domains and offer advantages to diverse groups in both a sports and clinical context with varying objectives.
Conference presentations:
Minds in motion kinesiology department, McGill University. (March 10, 2023)
Canadian Association for Neuroscience. Montreal/CA. (May 2023)
Organization for Human Brain Mapping. Montreal/CA. (July 2023)
