Wearing a Football Helmet Exacerbates Thermal Load During Exercise in Thermoneutral and Hyperthermic Exercise

Abstract

Brothers, Robert Matthew, Wearing a Football Helmet Exacerbates Thermal Load During Exercise in Thermoneutral and Hyperthermic Conditions. Masters of Science (Integrative Physiology), December, 2004, 42 pp., 1 table, 4 illustrations, 55 titles in References. This investigation tested the hypothesis that wearing a football helmet during intense exercise leads to a significant increase in core temperature as indicated by esophageal temperature (Tes), head skin temperature (Th) and heart rate (HR) when compared to a similar bout of exercise performed while no helmet was worn. It was found that in both the helmet and no helmet exercise protocol there was a significant increase in the above variables when compared to baseline. The helmet condition, however, resulted in a significantly greater increase in these variables when compared to the no helmet condition. Furthermore, this effect of the helmet was further increased in a hyperthermic environment when compared to the thermoneutral environment.