Effect of Ankle Weight Variation on Skin Surface Temperature Profile Using Thermography Technique

Abstract

Sport exercise can be classified into static and dynamic. Exercise for athletes is an activity that requires physical effort to be carried out in order to build up their stamina, muscle strength, and to improve their fitness level and performance. During the exercise, body will emit infrared radiation due to human thermoregulation process which could be detected using infrared thermography. However, the effect of various weights on low intensity dynamic exercise is still unclear. Therefore, this study is conducted to explore and investigate the effect of various loads to the changes of skin surface temperature in low intensity dynamic exercise using infrared thermography. A set of test was conducted on 10 healthy men by performing repetitive calf raise exercise with 0 kg, 0.9 kg and 2.72 kg individual ankle weight within 3 minutes. Muscle surface temperature was registered from gastrocnemius muscle and the analysis was focused on the changes of the muscle temperature for the various loads given. Average temperature and temperature difference were extracted from thermal images. Statistical analyses on the effect of loads on temperature parameters were then analysed. Results obtained show that although higher temperature difference changes were observed in the higher load exercise however statistically there is no effect of various loads on the temperature parameters in the beginning and along the exercise duration. Therefore, this study concluded that thermography can be used as a method for assessing human thermoregulation process during low intensity dynamic exercise.