Personalized Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Stroke Recovery

Weak direct current (0.5-2 mA) will be delivered for up to 20 minutes through surface electrodes which will be positioned using the ptDCS montage. The current will be increased and decreased ramp-like at the beginning and end of the 20-minute stimulation to lessen the itchy/numb skin sensation and decrease the likelihood of an innocuous phosphene-like visual phenomenon. The stimulation will be delivered during the first 20 minutes of occupational therapy targeted to the more affected upper extremity.

Same procedure and montage as with the active stimulation but the current will be increased then decreased ramp-like and switched off after 20 seconds instead of the 20 minutes to elicit the same cutaneous sensation as the other stimulation conditions. \[69\] This short length of stimulation is documented to elicit sensations comparable to those of real stimulation. With this procedure, subjects were unable to differentiate between tDCS and sham stimulation in our and other previous studies.