Body cooling using concept of convection for persons with impairment

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K11364
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 59020:Sports sciences-related
• Research Institution: Dokkyo Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Kamijo Yoshi-ichiro 獨協医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (40372510)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 体温調節 / 非蒸散性熱放散

Outline of Final Research Achievements

There are as many countermeasures of heat illness as there are persons with impairments. Because cutaneous vasodilation and sweating are absent or partially suppressed in persons with spinal cord injuries in a hot environment, heat storage would be likely to find in this population.
We assessed whether the using the principle of convection would effectively suppress an increase in a body core temperature during exercise in persons with spinal cord injuries. The averaged exercise intensity at 50% VO2peak is approximately 5 watts in the group of cervical spinal cord injury. In lean persons, core temperature rather decreased from baseline during 30-min upper limb exercise at thermoneutral condition, as did their forearm skin temperature. The 50% VO2peak of able-body persons was around 20 watts. When they exercised at 5 watts in the same environment, their core temperature also decreased. The results suggest that the movement of the forearm enhanced heat dissipation by convection.

Free Research Field

障がい者スポーツ医科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

障がい者選手の病態背景、サポート体制も様々であるため、同選手へのサポートは個別対応が基本となる。東京パラリンピック開催に際して、暑さが注目されたが、一方、これに関する知見があまりにも不足し、それまで正しいだろうと考えられてきた手法が実は熱中症発症リスクを高めてしまうことであった。例えば、頚髄損傷者が運動する際、彼ら、彼女らは全く発汗がないため、うつ熱を生じやすい。そのため、顔面などに冷水で霧吹きをするという習慣があった。しかし、実際に深部体温を測定すると、霧吹きを行うとかえってうつ熱状態になってしまう。対流の原理を用いた頚髄損傷者に対しても安全な体外冷却方法の開発は社会的意義が高い。