2007, Piran, Slovenia

Environmental Ergonomics XII
Igor B. Mekjavic, Stelios N. Kounalakis & Nigel A.S. Taylor (Eds.), © BIOMED, Ljubljana 2007
and latex gloves were placed over the top. Immediately following the sample period the pads
were returned to their airtight bags and sealed. The cotton gloves were cut along the borders
of the palm, back of the hand, and the fingers, before being placed in individual airtight bags.
Between the two sample periods, pre-weighed wristbands and absorbent pads were applied to
each wrist on the subject. Following the 60-min squash session, the weight and aural canal
temperature of the subject were recorded. On completion of the experimentation all pads were
reweighed inside their airtight bags. The surface area of each pad was calculated from the dry
weight of each pad and the weight per unit of surface area of a piece of control material. The
sweat rate was calculated in grams per meter square per hour (g.m -2 .h -1 ) using the weight
change of the pad, the pad surface area, and the length of time the pad was applied to the skin.
RESULTS
The data indicate large variation in both individual regional sweat rates and gross sweat loss.
For example, sweat rates for the back of the right hand varied from 160 to 940 g.m -2 .h -1
between subjects, whilst those for the right posterior lower arm range from 184 to 989 g.m -2 .h -
1 . This large variation in sweat rate can be seen across all of the regions which were tested.
Individual gross sweat loss ranged from 278 to 997 g.m -2 .h -1 . Figure 1 illustrates the median
sweat rates for the arms and hands during both sample periods, in addition to the wristbands
which were worn between the two samples. Sweat rates were higher on the arms than the
hands, however the wrists showed the highest values.
Sweat Rate (g.m -2 .h -1 Sweat Rate (g.m )
-2 .h -1 )
286
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Arms
r. r. ant ant upper upper
l. l. ant ant upper upper
r. r. pos pos upper upper
l.pos l.pos upper upper
r.ant r.ant lower lower
l.ant l.ant lower lower
r. r. pos pos lower lower
l. l. pos pos lower lower
r. r. thumb thumb
l. l. thumb thumb
r.finger r.finger 11
l.finger l.finger 11
r. r. finger finger 22
l. l. finger finger 22
r. r. finger finger 33
l. l. finger finger 33
r. r. finger finger 44
l. l. finger finger 44
r. r. palm palm
l. l. palm palm
r. r. hand hand
l.hand l.hand
r. r. wrist wrist
l. l. wrist wrist
Pad Location
Sample 1 (25 min)
Sample 2 (50 min)
Hands
Wrists
Figure 1. Median sweat rates (g.m -2 .h -1 ) and interquartile range for the arms and hands
during a 60-min squash session, with the wristbands applied between samples.