Work physiology

Lecture note: IE 665

Applied Industrial Ergonomics
 Physiologic response to
muscular work
• ATP molecules are the unit of biologic energy. It
can be synthesized aerobically or an-aerobically.
Physical work may have both aerobic and
anaerobic components. How much ATP is
produced to perform the bodily functions is
closely coordinated with cardiovascular
responses.
• To match the oxygen demand for work (closely
related to the ATP need), adjustment occurs in,
HR, SV, A-V difference in capillary blood in O2
concentration, Blood Redistribution, Blood
Pressure, Breathing rate, and Ventilation.
Oxygen debt and repayment
 Oxygen consumption (VO2) rate
and muscular work intensity
• VO2 rate in L/min can be measured using special
apparatus during work.
VO2 rate = Diff in O2 conc. in inspired and
expired breath(%) * ventilation (L/min)
Also, VO2 rate = A-V difference (%) * Cardiac
output (L/min)
– VO2 rate provides an accurate of ATP production
rate, and consequently intensity of physical work can
be determined precisely. Higher the work intensity
higher the VO2 consumption rate.
– VO2 is difficult to measure in field.
– (VO2work- VO2rest)/(VO2max- VO2rest) gives the percent
of work capacity being used for a work
 Cardiac responses to
muscular work
• Cardiac output (CO), amount of blood pumped per minute, to some
extent is proportional to the cellular respiration or ATP need or
metabolic demand for a workload.
CO = HR (/Min) *Stroke Volume (liters) liters/min
• HR is effected by:(i) Emotions especially at low metabolic level, (ii)
Ambient temperature and (iii) intensity of muscle work
• Stroke Volume is affected by the intensity of exercise. SV increases
with exercise intensity and reaches its maximum level for an
exercise intensity of about 40% of ones maximum. As a result of
these HR is an excellent predictor of work intensity for moderate to
heavy intensity physical work.
• HR can be easily monitored, and hence used extensively to quantify
the work intensity level.
• (HRwork- HRrest)/(HRmax- HRrest) also provides a rough estimate of the
percent of work capacity being used for a work.
• HRmax varies with age. Roughly, HRmax= 220 - Age in years, with a
sd= 10 bits per min.
 Work Capacity
• Work capacity or fitness level of an individual can be determined in
laboratory by measuring the VO2 max. There are several exercise
protocols, that employ gradually increasing physical work intensity.
Using a bicycle ergo-meter or a treadmill, the subject performs
exercise with gradually increasing resistance. The rate of O2
consumption, when the subject reaches his/her limit of exertion is
his or her the VO2 max, which is indicative of his/her fitness level or
work capacity of the subject. VO2 max can also be determined from
a sub-maximal exercise, in that case the sub-maximal VO2 is
projected with the help of heart rate data to determine the VO2 max.
• In VO2 max exercises, the cardiac limit can only be reached if large
muscle groups are involved during exercise. This is why, the VO2
max will be lower if a bicycle ergo-meter is used instead of a
treadmill to reach the limit. The person will reach his her maximum
exhaustion level due to local muscle fatigue, before cardiac limit is
reached.
• VO2 max is indicative of aerobic fitness level.