Motion sickness symptoms during jumping exercise on a short-arm centrifuge

Abstract

Artificial gravity elicited through short-arm human centrifugation combined with physical exercise, such as jumping, is promising in maintaining health and performance during space travel. However, motion sickness symptoms could limit the tolerability of the approach. Therefore, we determined the feasibility and tolerability, particularly occurrence of motion sickness symptoms, during reactive jumping exercises on a short-arm centrifuge. In 15 healthy men, we assessed motion sickness induced by jumping exercises during short-arm centrifugation at constant +1Gz or randomized variable +0.5, +0.75, +1, +1.25 and +1.5 Gz along the body axis referenced to center of mass. Jumping in the upright position served as control intervention. Test sessions were conducted on separate days in a randomized and cross-over fashion. All participants tolerated jumping exercises against terrestrial gravity and on the short-arm centrifuge during 1 Gz or variable Gz at the center of mass without disabling motion sickness symptoms. While head movements markedly differed, motion sickness scores were only modestly increased with jumping on the short-arm centrifuge compared with vertical jumps. Our study demonstrates that repetitive jumping exercises are feasible and tolerable during short-arm centrifugation. Since jumping exercises maintain muscle and bone mass, our study enables further development of exercise countermeasures in artificial gravity.

Daily 30-min exposure to artificial gravity during 60 days of bed rest does not maintain aerobic exercise capacity but mitigates some deteriorations of muscle function: results from the AGBRESA RCT

“…Different types of exercise that target not only the cardiovascular system but also muscle and bone would probably be more suitable, for example the high-intensity jump training that proved to be very effective in maintaining muscle, bone and cardiovascular health in a previous long-term bed rest study (Kramer et al 2017a ). It was already demonstrated that jumping whilst being centrifuged is possible, albeit with reduced peak ground reaction forces and changes in the movement pattern that might lower the countermeasure efficacy (Dreiner et al 2020 ; Kramer et al 2020a ; Frett et al 2020 ). Hence, future studies are needed to (a) determine those exercise regimes that could be combined with AG exposure, and (b) disentangle the effects observed in studies combining centrifugation and exercise by comparing the effects of the combined intervention to the effects of exercise alone.…”

Comparison of trunk muscle exercises in supine position during short arm centrifugation with 1 g at centre of mass and upright in 1 g

“…Early work with AG higher than 1 g suggested that movement during rotation precipitates disorientation and/or motion sickness ( Bertolini and Straumann, 2016 ) due to cross-coupled angular acceleration and induction of Coriolis forces ( Bertolini and Straumann, 2016 ), in addition to orthostatic intolerance ( Goswami et al, 2015 ). In case the g load is moderate (e. g. 1 g at CoM) and the exercise-related head and body motion is congruent, moderate movement appears well tolerated ( Frett et al, 2020b ). Indeed, plyometric exercises such as jumping can be performed during SAHC, albeit requiring familiarization to generate reaction forces equivalent to ground conditions ( Frett et al, 2020b ; Kramer et al, 2020b ; Dreiner et al, 2020 ).…”

Cardiovascular autonomic nervous system responses and orthostatic intolerance in astronauts and their relevance in daily medicine

“…Artificial gravity generated through a short arm centrifuge could be beneficial in attenuating the physiological deterioration in weightlessness [111]. Yet, artificial gravity alone may not suffice [49].Combinations of artificial gravity and exercise training hold promise [112]. During the Neurolab mission, four out of six crew members were exposed to 1 g on a centrifuge installed inside the Space Shuttle Columbia.…”