[Purpose] This study examined how incremental cardiorespiratory exercise may affect the speech rate and Counting Talk Test (CTT)-estimated exercise intensity. [Participants and Methods] Twenty-four healthy adults performed the CTT while exercising on a treadmill at 6 stages of incremental exercise ranging from 40% to 85% of heart rate reserve (HRR). Each participant started walking on the treadmill at 3 to 4 km/h and 0% elevation to warm up. The increments of treadmill grades were adjusted until targeted heart rates corresponding to the percentages of HRR were reached. Then, the participants were asked to rate their perceived exertion while the treadmill grades were maintained for 2-minutes bouts of each exercise stage. At the last minute of the exercise stage, the CTT was performed within a single breath. [Results] The speech rates in the CTT appeared to vary significantly during exercise. Moreover, the CTT-estimated exercise intensity showed significant reductions at several exercise stages. [Conclusion] The CTT estimates exercise intensity semi-quantitatively throughout incremental exercise. However, moderate and vigorous intensities could not be significantly delineated by the current CTT method. This could be due to the variability in speech rates that were indicated as the exercise progressed.

Introduction: The Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is electronic device that enabled us to record joint angles, gait event and spatiotemporal parameter using accelerometers. IMU contain sensors known as inertial sensor which measures its movement by using the inertia principle. This study aimed to determine validity and reliability of spatiotemporal gait parameter using the IMU sensor. Methods: This study are prospective cross-sectional recruited thirteen convenience subjects (four men, nine women; 50.0 +/-15.0 years) diagnosed with chronic Non-Specific Lower Back Pain (LBP) from Physiotherapy Department, upon an Orthopedic Specialist’s referral, at Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru. Spatiotemporal parameters interested: left and right velocity, cadence, stride/step time and stride/step length recorded by Vicon system and IMU sensors synchronously. Results: Higher validity was indicated at the Trial 2 detected by the IMU sensors comparing Vicon system, with significant correlation p ≤ 0.05 except stride time left shank (r = 0.539, p = 0.06) , left foot (r = 0.495, p = 0.11) and step length left shank (r = 0.532, p = 0.06). The result of study also indicated that the reliability of the IMU sensors based on ICCs ≥ 0.75 and 95% CI 0.180 – 0.993, p ≤ 0.01 in Non-specific LBP patients for spatiotemporal gait parameters comparing Trial 1 and Trial 2. Conclusion: The IMU system performs to be valid and reliable for determine spatiotemporal gait parameters in Non-specific LBP patients. IMU provides a possible solution to measure spatiotemporal gait in a clinical setting without requiring specific working area and professional technician.

PurposeWhen utilizing breathing for speech, the rate and volume of inhalation, as well as the rate of exhalation during the utterance, seem to be largely governed by the speech-controlling system and its requirements with respect to phrasing, loudness, and articulation. However, since the Talk Test represents a non-standardized form of assessment of exercise intensity estimation, this study aimed to compare the utterance rate and the estimated exercise intensity using a newly introduced time-controlled monosyllabic Talk Test (tMTT) versus a self-paced Counting Talk Test (CTT) across incremental exercise stages and examined their associations with the exercise physiological measures.MethodsTwenty-four participants, 10 males and 14 females (25 ± 4.0 yr; 160 ± 10 cm; 62 ± 14.5 kg) performed two sessions of submaximal cardiorespiratory exercise at incremental heart rate reserve (HRR) stages ranging from 40 to 85% of HRR: one session was performed with a currently available CTT that was affixed to a wall in front of the participants, and the other session was conducted with a tMTT with a 1-s inter-stimulus interval that was displayed from a tablet. In each session, the participants performed six stages of exercise at 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 85% HRR on a treadmill and were also asked to rate their perceived exertion based on Borg’s 6 to 20 Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) at each exercise stage.ResultsThe newly designed tMTT significantly delineated all the six stages of incremental exercise (p ≤ 0.017), while CTT could only delineate exercise stages at 60, 80, and 85% HRR. However, in estimations of exercise intensity, the tMTT demonstrated only moderate associations with HRR and Borg’s RPE, similarly to the CTT.ConclusionIf the purpose of exercise monitoring is to detect the intensity of light, moderate, and vigorous exercise intensity, the tMTT could be more universally applicable. However, due to its larger variability of speech rate across exercise intensities, the time-regulated approach may alter the speech breathing characteristics of the exercising individuals in other ways that should be investigated in future research.