Effects of Wearing Trousers or Shorts under Firefighting Protective Clothing on Physiological and Subjective Responses

Abstract

This study examined the influence of wearing trousers or shorts under firefighting protective clothing with phase change materials (PCMs) on physiological/subjective responses and the mobility of firefighters.Experiment 1: Eight Fukuoka City firefighters (28±3.6 yrs) participated in the research and rested in a pre-test room for 10 min before entering the test-room where they rested for another 10 min, followed by a 30 min-exercise period (on a treadmill, 4.8 km·h−1 at a 3% gradient) and a 10 min-recovery period. Rectal temperature, mean skin temperature, heart rate, body weight loss and subjective responses were measured.Experiment 2: Eight Fukuoka City firefighters (27.9±3.5 yrs) participated in a freedom of movement test, an exercise test and answered a set of questionnaires. The exercise test involved obstacle courses with 70 cm and 90 cm obstacles.The results suggest that performance was improved while wearing shorts under protective clothing with PCMs, although no significant difference in reducing thermal stress while wearing shorts instead of trousers was revealed.