Virginia Pinna, Sara Magnani, Gianmarco Sainas, Giovanna Ghiani, Samuele Vanni, Sergio Olla, Elisabetta Marini, Nicoletta Curreli, Stefano Cabras, Paulo Farinatti, Giorgia Antoni, Filippo Tocco, Andrea C. Rinaldi, Antonio Crisafulli
Abstract
Caves are an extreme environment for humans because of the high humidity, mud, darkness, and slippery conditions. Explorations can last many hours or even days, and require extensive climbing and ropework. Very little is known about the physical capacity of cavers and their energy expenditure (EE) during caving. The physical capacity of 17 (7 females) expert cavers (age 43.9 ± 7.3 years) was assessed during an incremental cycle-ergometer test (IET) with gas exchange analysis. Moreover, a wearable metabolic band (Armband Fit Core) was used to estimate their EE during caving. In terms of physical capacity, the IET showed that cavers had a maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) of 2,248.7 ± 657.8 ml·min-1 (i.e., 32.4 ± 6.4 ml·kg-1·min-1), while anaerobic threshold (AT) occurred on average at 74.5% of VO2max. Results from caving sessions provided an average time spent in cave of 9.4 ± 1.2 h while the average EE was 268.8 ± 54.8 kcal·h-1, which corresponded to about 40% of VO2max measured during IET. A mean distance of 10.6 ± 2.2 km was covered by subjects. Data from the present investigation provide evidence that cavers have a level of aerobic physical capacity only slightly higher than that of sedentary people, thereby suggesting that a high aerobic fitness is not needed by cavers. Moreover, during caving the EE was on average well below the level of AT. However, in absolute terms, the total EE was elevated (i.e., 2,672.3 ± 576 kcal in total) due to the long time spent in caving.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 February 2018.
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#6,454,610
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#81
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Altmetric has tracked 23,571,271 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 14,287 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 311 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
