Effect of cranial electro-stimulation on athletes’ recovery after practice of different load intensity

The purpose of the research was to detect the effect of Cranial Electrical Stimulation (CES) on athletes in general and under different load intensity in their practice body recovery process quality. Optimal restoring of athletes’ body capacity under loads of training and competition processes is as essential as optimal choice of physical and psychological loads in practice. The cranial electrical stimulation (CES) method has attested the usefulness of their application in various fields. The data confirm that athletes use CES to improve their coordination ability, to increase their concentration ability and even to improve the indicators of the body functional condition before competitions as well. The cranial electrical stimulation was applied by AlphaStim stimulators; their effect mechanism is described in the theoretical part of the article. 12 participants of the Latvian national bobsleigh men team and 14 participants of the Latvian Academy of Sport Education handball team were analyzed for the study. The general parameters of functional diagnosis were automatically stated by “OmegaS” system and revealed quantitative criteria (in percent) that defined health qualities of the cardiovascular system: adaptation level of the cardiovascular system (A); autonomous regulation of the vegetative system (B); the central heart rate regulation (C); psychoemotional state (D); integral indicator of the functional condition (H). The highest increase of the indicators after CES procedures was observed with the participants of the sports game team. The increase in bobsleigh athletes’ indicators were more modest. Though, we can affirm that the recovery of these athletes was also positively affected by CES procedure. The basic conclusions: 1. Generally, the CES procedure speeds up the athletes’ physical condition of recovery after practice. 2. The efficiency of recovery after CES depends on physical load intensity in practice, athlete’s qualification, and time provided for the rest.