The use of infrared thermography to detect the skin temperature response to physical activity

G Tanda

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/655/1/012062

Abstract

Physical activity has a noticeable effect on skin blood flow and temperature. The thermal regulatory and hemodynamic processes during physical activity are controlled by two conflicting mechanisms: the skin vasoconstriction induced by the blood flow demand to active muscles and the skin vasodilation required by thermoregulation to increase warm blood flow and heat conduction to the skin. The time-evolution of skin temperature during exercise can give useful information about the adaptation of the subject as a function of specific type, intensity and duration of exercise. In this paper, infrared thermography is used to investigate the thermal response of skin temperature during running exercise on treadmill for a group of seven healthy and trained runners. Two different treadmill exercises are considered: a graded load exercise and a constant load exercise; for both exercises the duration was 30 minutes. Within the limits due to the relatively small size of the sample group, results typically indicate a fall in skin temperature during the initial stage of running exercise. As the exercise progresses, the dynamics of the skin temperature response depends on the type of exercise (graded versus constant load) and probably on the level of training of the subject.

Highlights

Human body temperature comprises the temperatures of the core and skin
The core temperature refers to the temperatures of the abdominal, thoracic and cranial cavities, the skin temperature refers to the temperatures of the skin and subcutaneous tissues
The thermal regulatory and hemodynamic processes during physical activity are controlled by two conflicting mechanisms: the skin vasoconstriction induced by the blood flow demand to active muscles and the skin vasodilation required by thermoregulation to increase warm blood flow and heat conduction to the skin [3]

Summary

Introduction

Human body temperature comprises the temperatures of the core and skin. The core temperature refers to the temperatures of the abdominal, thoracic and cranial cavities, the skin temperature refers to the temperatures of the skin and subcutaneous tissues. The thermo-regulatory system of the human body is aimed at maintaining a constant core temperature against a wide range of environmental and/or physical work conditions This constant temperature (about 37°C during rest) is the result of a balance between the metabolic heat production and the heat dissipation to the environment. Even if core temperature elevation up to 40°C may be tolerated during long-distance running races or training workouts, most of the extra metabolic heat has to be carried away from the body by conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation [2] These heat transfer processes are mainly controlled by the skin temperature; the higher the temperature difference between the skin and the external environment, the higher the heat transfer rate dissipated to the environment.

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