OSCR

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation enhances exercise-induced hypoalgesia in patients with chronic low back pain.

Overview

Authors: Haozhi Zhao1,2,3, Chen Gong1,2,3, Kaixia Gao1,2,4,3, Beibei Feng1,2,3, Yafei Wang1,2,3, Yangyang Lin1,2,3, Yuling Wang1,2,3
ORCID iDs: Chen Gong, Yuling Wang
  1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
  2. Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Rehabilitation Medicine, Guangzhou, China
  3. Biomedical Innovation Center, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
  4. Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
Institutions: Sun Yat-sen University (China); Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (China); Shanghai University of Sport (China)
Journal: iScience, volume 29, issue 7, article 116443
Dates: received 26 September 2025; accepted 2 June 2026; published online 29 June 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY-NC
Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443 · PMID 42403639 · PMCID PMC13329382 · OpenAlex W7166512972
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: other (modality), human (organism), pain (population), clinical / translational (subfield)
Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Connectivity, Statistics, fMRI & imaging
Keywords: health sciences, medicine, neurology
Topic: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies (Neurology, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) (82503056); Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Rehabilitation Medicine (2023B110003); Guangdong Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Program (20251065); Youth Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Program of Guangdong Association for Science and Technology (SKXRC2025161); Guangdong Hopson-Pearl River Education Development Foundation (H20190116202012724)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 63 references in the paper

Abstract

Exercise-induced hypoalgesia is often attenuated in chronic pain. This randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial tested whether HD-tDCS over the left primary motor cortex enhances exercise-related hypoalgesic responses, as reflected by pressure pain threshold changes, during aerobic exercise in chronic low back pain. Fifty-two participants received active or sham HD-tDCS while cycling. Pressure pain thresholds and pain-evoked fNIRS responses were assessed before and after intervention. Active HD-tDCS produced larger pressure pain threshold increases than sham stimulation and attenuated pain-evoked activation in somatosensory, motor, and prefrontal regions. Reduced cortical activation correlated with increased pressure pain thresholds, and reduced left dlPFC activation mediated the PPT increase at the tibialis anterior site. These findings suggest that M1 HD-tDCS can augment acute exercise-related pressure pain threshold responses and modulate pain-evoked cortical activity in chronic low back pain.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none (its code is available on request), so it has no map.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data and code availability

• Data reported in this paper will be shared by the lead contact upon request. • This paper does not report original code. • Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 2, 28 September 2026

  • Authors: added Yuling Wang (0000-0002-2079-3568); removed Yuling Wang

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 3 keywords, 5 funders, 63 references.

Cite

This paper

Zhao, H., Gong, C., Gao, K., Feng, B., Wang, Y., Lin, Y., & Wang, Y. (2026). High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation enhances exercise-induced hypoalgesia in patients with chronic low back pain. iScience, 29(7), 116443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443

BibTeX

@article{zhao2026high,
author = {Zhao, Haozhi and Gong, Chen and Gao, Kaixia and Feng, Beibei and Wang, Yafei and Lin, Yangyang and Wang, Yuling},
title = {{High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation enhances exercise-induced hypoalgesia in patients with chronic low back pain}},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
volume = {29},
number = {7},
pages = {116443},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2589-0042},
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443},
pmid = {42403639},
pmcid = {PMC13329382}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Zhao, Haozhi
AU - Gong, Chen
AU - Gao, Kaixia
AU - Feng, Beibei
AU - Wang, Yafei
AU - Lin, Yangyang
AU - Wang, Yuling
TI - High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation enhances exercise-induced hypoalgesia in patients with chronic low back pain
T2 - iScience
J2 - iScience
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/29
VL - 29
IS - 7
SP - 116443
SN - 2589-0042
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

{
"id": "10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443",
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation enhances exercise-induced hypoalgesia in patients with chronic low back pain",
"container-title": "iScience",
"author": [
{
"family": "Zhao",
"given": "Haozhi"
},
{
"family": "Gong",
"given": "Chen"
},
{
"family": "Gao",
"given": "Kaixia"
},
{
"family": "Feng",
"given": "Beibei"
},
{
"family": "Wang",
"given": "Yafei"
},
{
"family": "Lin",
"given": "Yangyang"
},
{
"family": "Wang",
"given": "Yuling"
}
],
"container-title-short": "iScience",
"volume": "29",
"issue": "7",
"page": "116443",
"DOI": "10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443",
"PMID": "42403639",
"PMCID": "PMC13329382",
"ISSN": "2589-0042",
"publisher": "Elsevier",
"URL": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116443",
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
6,
29
]
]
}
}

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1159/000552942 [code]
How Standardized Is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment for Depression? Large-Cohort Modeling Reveals Systematic Dosimetric Variability.
Journal: Psychotherapy and psychosomatics
In common: other, clinical / translational, 2 references
[2] doi:10.3389/fnins.2026.1803897 [code]
Multimodal imaging-based targeting approach for network-level brain stimulation.
Journal: Frontiers in neuroscience
In common: other, 2 references
[3] doi:10.1162/nol.a.266 [code]
The Role of the Anterior Temporal Lobe in Reading: An HD-tDCS Study.
Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)
In common: other, 2 references
[4] doi:10.3389/fnsys.2026.1880737
Autonomic-salience stability as a candidate Gate for awake low-dose ketamine: a systems neuroscience framework with a clinical anchor.
Journal: Frontiers in systems neuroscience
In common: pain, other, clinical / translational, 1 reference
[5] doi:10.1007/s00221-026-07304-y
Anxiety disorders alter cognitive-motor integration during visuomotor adaptation and retention.
Journal: Experimental brain research
In common: 2 references
[6] doi:10.1186/s40708-026-00328-8 [code]
Brain dysconnectivity patterns associated with chronic back pain development.
Journal: Brain informatics
In common: pain, clinical / translational, 1 reference
[7] doi:10.1038/s42003-026-10377-8
Placebo analgesia persistence: evaluating behavioural stability in repeated trials.
Journal: Communications biology
In common: pain, clinical / translational, 1 reference
[8] doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0345947
Integrating multi-session transcranial direct current stimulation with routine physical therapy to improve quadriceps strength and activation in athletes during subacute recovery following ACL reconstruction: A double-blind RCT.
Journal: PloS one
In common: other, clinical / translational, 1 reference
[9] doi:10.1038/s41380-026-03560-0
Optimized multichannel 4 mA vs conventional transcranial direct current stimulation for major depressive disorder: A randomized sham-controlled trial.
Journal: Molecular psychiatry
In common: other, clinical / translational, 1 reference
[10] doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.116287 [code]
Neural selectivity for social interactions in the infant brain.
Journal: iScience
In common: 2 references

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.