The Effect of Simulated Burn Injury on Post Exercise Recovery in Hot Environments

The Effect of Simulated Burn Injury on Post Exercise Recovery in Hot Environments

Burn survivors have difficulty thermoregulating due to reduced skin blood flow and sweating responses at the grafted sites. It has been previously shown that this impaired heat dissipation results in burn survivors experiencing higher core temperatures for a given exercise/environmental exposure compared to non-burned individuals. This also holds true with the use of simulated burn injury. When an absorbent material is applied to the skin over a desired amount of body surface area, it replicates a burn injury of the same size (i.e., simulated burn injury). A question that remains unknown is if this impaired thermoregulation in burn survivors would affect post-exercise core temperature recovery, i.e., do burn survivors recover slower than non-burned individuals upon stopping exercise. To that end, the primary objective of this project is to determine the rate at which body temperature and other markers of thermoregulation recover after a bout of exercise in the heat and if this response is different in the same individual with and without simulated burn injury.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 and 65 years of age
• free of any significant underlying medical problems based upon a detailed medical history and physical exam, and normal resting electrocardiogram.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Known heart disease
• other chronic medical conditions requiring regular medical therapy including cancer, diabetes, neurological diseases, and uncontrolled hypertension, etc. as well as serious abnormalities detected on routine screening.
• Individuals who are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding will be excluded, this will be confirmed in females using a urine pregnancy test.
• Taking prescribed medications (such as beta blockers and non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers) or over-the-counter medications that have known influences on thermoregulatory response.
• Current smokers, as well as individuals who regularly smoked within the past 3 years.
• body mass index is ≥ 31 kg/m2.