Transcranial magnetic stimulation – Neuro-doping or not?

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain method of stimulating the brain by applying a constant current to cortical regions with the aim of modulating neuronal activity. The specialized literature currently does not provide precision regarding the results of TMS in sports competitions – whether it can be considered a doping method or not, as many studies are conflicting. TMS considers multiple variables in order to have an expected effect of modulating the neural activity such as the placement of the electrodes (anode induces cortical excitation and cathode induces inhibition), the target of the cortical stimulation (motor area, supplementary motor area, prefrontal or frontal cortex), the duration of stimulation or neuronal polarity. Nonetheless, taking into account the subjects are healthy it is hard to establish if TMS was used on that person, so it is necessary to find a method of detection the use of TMS. In order to decide the neuro-doping potential of this method it is important to standardize a protocol that defines what is considered threshold and is likely to provide performance enhancements. Overall, this method can increase muscle strength and fatigue endurance which are sufficient parameters to consider TMS a pseudo doping method for now.