A new hand-cooling device to enhance firefighter heat strain recovery.
J Occup Environ Hyg
; 6(5): 283-8, 2009 May.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19242856
ABSTRACT
This study tested a new portable cooling device for fire fighting recovery. Participants (N = 8) walked and did arm curls (time-weighted VO(2) 1.6 L x min(-1) on a treadmill for 40 min in a heated chamber (wet bulb globe temperature 33.7 degrees C; relative humidity 40-45%) while wearing firefighter turn-out gear and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Immediately on finishing exercise, participants recovered for 40 min with either a hand-cooling device or seated passive recovery at an ambient temperature of 22 degrees C, 35% RH in a repeated-measures counterbalanced design. The cooling device had little impact on recovery during the first 30 min; however, compared with passive cooling, the cooling device resulted in significantly lower rectal temperature (T(re)) during the last 10 min. Relative to starting T(re) of the recovery period, Delta T(re) at 35 min had fallen 0.51 +/- 0.19 degrees C (passive) and 0.76 +/- 0.30 degrees C (active) (p = 0.03); and at 40 min Delta T(re) had fallen 0.63 +/- 0.17 degrees C (passive) and 0.88 +/- 0.31 degrees C (active) (p = 0.03). Cooling capacity of the device calculated from Delta T(re) over the whole recovery period averaged about 144% of passive. Reductions in heat storage enhance worker safety and performance in hot environments.
Texto completo:
1
Bases de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Equipamentos de Proteção
/
Regulação da Temperatura Corporal
/
Mãos
Tipo de estudo:
Evaluation_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Occup Environ Hyg
Assunto da revista:
MEDICINA OCUPACIONAL
/
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Ano de publicação:
2009
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos