Within and between-day reliability of energetic cost measures during treadmill walking.

This study published in Cogent Engineering Journal analyses the capacity of COSMED K4b2 portable metabolic system in detecting small physiologic changes within a day on healthy adults.

The efficacy of assistive devices used during walking is often measured as a reduction in metabolic cost. Metabolic cost is typically assessed within a day or on multiple days, yet the benefit of performing within-day vs. between-day metabolic assessments is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the within-day minimal detectable change of standard measures of physiologic performance using the K4b2, COSMED conventional portable metabolic system, and compare these to between-day values.

The study conclusions are that "the K4b2 system is able to detect small changes in physiologic measurements within a day. Within-day minimal detectable changes (MDC) were about half the size of between-day values. These results emphasize the benefit of using within-day methodological designs when feasible as the ability to determine differences in metabolic cost dramatically improves".

The article details are the following:

- Title: "Within and between-day reliability of energetic cost measures during treadmill walking"
- Authors: Audra Davidson, Emily S. Gardinier & Deanna H. Gates
- Published in:Cogent Engineering Volume 3, 2016 - Issue 1

The full article can be freely downloaded at the following link: click here