In this paper, the adaptability of the swimmers to cold water during the swimming season has been discussed by means of the finger skin temperature reaction during an ice-water immersion comparing with that of the controls.
The experiments were carried out about the middle of each month from June to October in 1968 and of July and August in 1969. The numbers of subjects for each month are shown in Table 1, being about 7-32 swimmers and 7-17 controls. They are all students.
As the site of examination, the palmer surface of the distal phalanx of the left middle finger was used in this study, because it was found from the experiment in 10 males and 3 females that the reactivity of skin temperature was more apparent on the palmar surface than on the dorsal one of the phalanx (Fig. 1).
The skin temperature was measured every one minute after the immersion in the crushed ice-water (0°C). To determine the skin temperature, a thermopile made of copper and constantan wire were applied on the finger. To maintain the water temperature at 0°C during the immersion, a revised one of the immersion box devised by SUZUKI (1969) was used.
Individual finger cooling curves of all these subjects were classified into four types, from I to IV (Fig. 2). About 95% of all subjects belonged to the type I. Only such materials were used for the consideration in this study.
Such a standard finger cooling curve was divided into following elements; TFR (temperature of the first rise after immersion), TFP(temperature of the first peak after the first spontaneous rewarming), TTR (time for the first temperature rise after immersion) and TTP (time lapsed between the first spontaneous rewarming and the first peak) (Fig. 3). In this paper, the adaptability of the swimmers to cold water was considered on the base of these four characteristics and further by means of Point Test, evaluating all of them as points.
The following results have been found;
1) Female swimmers have a tendency to show a more weak reactivity than female controls in TFR, TFP, TTR and Point Test in August, but to show a more intensive reactivity to the latter in TFP, TTR, TTP and Points in October.
2) Male swimmers have a tendency to be more intenser in TTP through these six months and to show a temporal less reactivity in July as to these four characteristics and Points.
3) The values of three characteristics except TTP, and the Points generally show a positive or inverse correlation to the room temperature.
4) In the monthly fluctuation curves of TFR, TTR and TTP, some sexual differences are found.
5) It is probably found from these results that the swimmers have a tendency to be more adaptable to cold water than the controls at the beginning period of swimming season in males and at the close of season in females.
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