Cold acclimatization and finger numbness
Evidence is scarce on the alterations in human performance that follow repeated exposure to cold climates. These experiments have therefore attempted to establish whether people show any measurable changes in hand function when they live in cold environments. The investigations started as field stud...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B - Biological Sciences |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
1955
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 2024-10-13T14:05:45+00:00 Cold acclimatization and finger numbness 1955 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B - Biological Sciences volume 143, issue 912, page 392-407 ISSN 2053-9193 journal-article 1955 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 2024-09-23T04:22:21Z Evidence is scarce on the alterations in human performance that follow repeated exposure to cold climates. These experiments have therefore attempted to establish whether people show any measurable changes in hand function when they live in cold environments. The investigations started as field studies in Canada and continued as cold-room researches later in England. The field tests in the sub-Arctic were mostly in terms of tactile sensitivity of the fingers. The volunteers for these tests were termed either indoor or outdoor men, according to the amount of time they usually worked outside. Their fingers were chilled for 6 min, and it was found that air temperatures of — 16 to — 25° C at wind speeds of about 4 m.p.h. had a much greater numbing effect on the indoor men. One criterion used for numbness estimation was the two-point tactile discrimination threshold. The increase in this threshold was seven times greater for the indoor men, although both groups had equally sensitive fingers before cold exposure. A definite but smaller difference was also found after exposure as regards their vibration-detection thresholds. Over a large range of wind-chill conditions the indoor men gave a marked and linear increase in their two-point thresholds. But with the same changes in environmental severity the outdoor men showed no such alteration in sensitivity. Extremely severe exposures, however, did give equally marked numbness in both groups. The higher the skin temperatures after exposure, the less were the numbness scores in either group. [Other workers have shown that Eskimos have higher skin temperatures and resting hand blood flows than white men (Brown & Page 1952).] The outdoor men had higher finger-skin temperatures before and particularly after the experimental cold exposures. Possibly, then, the outdoor men might have developed a greater resting finger blood flow which more effectively maintained their finger warmth and tactile discrimination. This suggestion needs study by further cold-room research. ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic eskimo* The Royal Society Arctic Canada Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B - Biological Sciences 143 912 392 407 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Evidence is scarce on the alterations in human performance that follow repeated exposure to cold climates. These experiments have therefore attempted to establish whether people show any measurable changes in hand function when they live in cold environments. The investigations started as field studies in Canada and continued as cold-room researches later in England. The field tests in the sub-Arctic were mostly in terms of tactile sensitivity of the fingers. The volunteers for these tests were termed either indoor or outdoor men, according to the amount of time they usually worked outside. Their fingers were chilled for 6 min, and it was found that air temperatures of — 16 to — 25° C at wind speeds of about 4 m.p.h. had a much greater numbing effect on the indoor men. One criterion used for numbness estimation was the two-point tactile discrimination threshold. The increase in this threshold was seven times greater for the indoor men, although both groups had equally sensitive fingers before cold exposure. A definite but smaller difference was also found after exposure as regards their vibration-detection thresholds. Over a large range of wind-chill conditions the indoor men gave a marked and linear increase in their two-point thresholds. But with the same changes in environmental severity the outdoor men showed no such alteration in sensitivity. Extremely severe exposures, however, did give equally marked numbness in both groups. The higher the skin temperatures after exposure, the less were the numbness scores in either group. [Other workers have shown that Eskimos have higher skin temperatures and resting hand blood flows than white men (Brown & Page 1952).] The outdoor men had higher finger-skin temperatures before and particularly after the experimental cold exposures. Possibly, then, the outdoor men might have developed a greater resting finger blood flow which more effectively maintained their finger warmth and tactile discrimination. This suggestion needs study by further cold-room research. ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
spellingShingle |
Cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
title_short |
Cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
title_full |
Cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
title_fullStr |
Cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
title_sort |
cold acclimatization and finger numbness |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
1955 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic eskimo* |
genre_facet |
Arctic eskimo* |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B - Biological Sciences volume 143, issue 912, page 392-407 ISSN 2053-9193 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1955.0019 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B - Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
143 |
container_issue |
912 |
container_start_page |
392 |
op_container_end_page |
407 |
_version_ |
1812811795507707904 |