Authors:
Aurora Rosato
1
;
Matilda Larsson
1
;
Eric Rullman
2
and
Seraina Dual
1
Affiliations:
1
Department of Biomedical Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
;
2
Division of Clinical Physiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
Keyword(s):
Cardiac-Locomotor Coupling, Wearable Sensor, Exercise, Lifelogging.
Abstract:
.During exercise, the locomotor and the cardiovascular system work in synergy to control the blood flow
through the body. In particular, the muscle contraction generates rhythmic raising and lowering of intramuscular pressure, which in synergy supports cardiovascular function. This study aims to analyze spontaneous
cardiac-locomotor coupling (CLC) events during daily activities using weareable sensors. We analyze the data
set PMData, containing recordings from sixteen healthy subjects during five months. The data were acquired
with a smartwatch and consist of step rate (SR), heart rate (HR) and daily surveys reporting the training sessions. Coupling is defined as being present when SR and HR are within 1% of each other (strong coupling)
and within the 10% of each other (weak coupling). The results show that every subject presents occurrences
of CLC while performing normal daily activities. In particular, strong coupling occurs more likely for longer
activities (111 ± 34 min),
at moderate intensity (100 steps
min < SR > 130 steps
min ). The presence of CLC during
daily activities rises the question whether there is a physiological mechanism controlling this phenomenon,
that should be investigated in future.
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