| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 651033 | Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science | 2016 | 9 Pages |
•Before this study it was unclear how cycling workload affects skin temperature.•Workload only affected some regions with low sweat rate or low blood perfusion.•Inverse relationships were observed between core and skin temperatures.•The results showed the difficulty of linking skin with cycling workload.•The results showed the difficulty of linking skin with core temperature.
PurposeThe aim of the study was to determine the influence of cycling workload on the variation of core and skin temperature of the different body regions, and the relationship between both temperature variables.MethodFourteen cyclists performed two 45-min cycling tests at 35% and 50% of peak power output on different days. The cadence was constant in both tests (90 rpm). Core temperature was measured continuously throughout the test and local skin temperature was recorded before, immediately after and 10 min after finishing the cycling test. Differences in variation of the core and skin temperature and in the effort perception and body mass loss due to different cycling workload were analyzed. Additionally, the relationship between core and skin temperature was assessed.ResultsCore temperature of the test at 50% was between 0.2 and 0.3 °C higher than at workload of 35%. The tibialis anterior region, the ankle anterior region and the Achilles region presented higher reductions in skin temperature due to exercise for test at 50% than 35%, and knee presented a lower increase (p < 0.05). Core and skin temperatures showed either weak or moderate inverse correlation for most of the body regions, but in others such as knee, ankle anterior and Achilles region, a positive weak relationship was observed.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study highlight the difficulty of linking skin temperature with cycling workload and core temperature due to the thermoregulatory system efficiency in the increase of the thermal gradient, alongside the multifactorial dependence of the skin temperature.
