A preliminary study on the relationship between energy expenditure and skin temperature in swimming

Abstract

This study experimentally investigated the possible relationship between energy expenditure and skin temperature during 2x 300m protocols (front crawl and backstroke), performed at the same intensity and velocity, in two national level male swimmers. Both swimming techniques increased skin temperature but with different thermal patterns. Higher values of energy expenditure during the 300m backstroke test were found comparing with the values obtained for the same distance performed in front crawl and higher difference between skin temperatures values were associated with lower energy expenditure values.

Thermographic imaging in sports and exercise medicine: A Delphi study and consensus statement on the measurement of human skin temperature

“…In relation to the experimental setup and reporting of environmental conditions it is important to describe the ambient temperature and relative humidity where the assessment took place. Skin temperature is influenced by the environment, especially if the skin is exposed (Bach et al, 2015b;Fernandes et al, 2014), therefore TISEM recommends that mean ambient temperature (°C; ± standard deviation) and relative humidity (%; ± standard deviation) be reported. Similarly, external factors, such as infrared radiation (e.g.…”

“…These applications have considerably growth in the use of IRT in recent years, due in part to improvements in the accuracy, functionality and affordability of camera technology, thus making IRT an emerging method of tsk measurement in sports and exercise medicine (Bach et al, 2015b;Costello et al, 2012b;Fernandes et al, 2014).…”

“…IRT is a rapid emerging technique for the assessment of tsk as it is versatile, non-invasive, wireless, and requires no contact with the individual (Bach et al, 2015b;Fernandes et al, 2014;Formenti et al, 2016).…”

“…Previous reports have demonstrated poor agreement between tsk measurements by IRT and contact devices (e.g. thermistors, thermocouples, iButtons) (Bach et al, 2015a;Bach et al, 2015b;Fernandes et al, 2014). However, there are some inherent limitations related to the methodology of IRT data acquisition that could act as confounding factors, thereby influencing temperatures outcomes (Fernández-Cuevas et al, 2015).…”

Changes in skin temperature during interval type of physical exercise measured by infrared thermography

“…More work is still needed in order to functionally correlate level of intensity with the level of skin temperature fall at the beginning of activity. Heart rate monitoring and IRT can give us useful non-invasive information of physiological activity of an athlete body, especially when taken into consideration latest studies which show: 1. that anaerobic effort is accompanied by a substantial drop of the temperature on surface of engaged muscles and the degree of the drop is proportional to the blood lactate concentration [10], and 2. the use of skin temperature as a physiological indicator of energy expenditure [11]. Baseline images of the rest period combined with images during sport-specific exercise provoke certain patterns that can help us better understand regulation of skin blood flow and thermoregulation of athletes and can be a helpful tool in sport, sports medicine and physical therapy.…”