Citation

Oksa J, Rintamaki H, Mäkinen T. Mil. Med. 2006; 171(8): 757-761.

Affiliation

Oulu Regional Institute of Occupational Health, Laboratory of Physiology, 90220 Oulu, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16933818

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate how training for disassembling and assembling a weapon and patrol data message terminal and loading a magazine in different temperatures affected the ability to perform those skills in a cold environment. One group trained six times on separate days in a warm environment (19 degrees C), the second group trained three times in a warm environment and then three times in a cold environment (-15 degrees C), and the third group trained six times in the cold environment. Training first in warm and then in cold shortened performance time by 6% to 28%, in comparison to training only in a warm environment. Also, training in cold made the subjects faster than training in warm. In conclusion, before performing military operations in a cold environment, it is most beneficial to train first in warm and then in cold. Training only in warm produces the lowest level of performance in a cold environment.

Language: en