{"id":189622,"date":"2022-08-30T07:15:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T11:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=189622"},"modified":"2022-12-15T10:10:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T15:10:25","slug":"ksi-marks-milestone-with-falmouth-road-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/08\/ksi-marks-milestone-with-falmouth-road-race\/","title":{"rendered":"KSI Marks Milestone with Falmouth Road Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of the Korey Stringer Institute\u2019<\/a>s cutting-edge research on exertional heat stroke and thermoregulation happens in their state-of-the-art laboratories. But every year they take their research into the field at the Falmouth Road Race in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Since 2013, KSI has brought a team of 30 to 40 faculty, staff, and students to the annual seven-mile race to conduct research and provide exertional heat stroke care.<\/p>\n

The Falmouth Road Race celebrated its 50th<\/sup> anniversary this year, and the KSI team was there to lend their expertise. Douglas Casa, KSI CEO and professor of kinesiology in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a>, also celebrated a milestone at the race. He first worked in the medical tent in 1994 and has been going to nearly every race since 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to provide medical care and conduct research at the Falmouth Road Race is an incredible opportunity to advance our understanding of human heat physiology and clinical care of exertional heat stroke-one of the 3 leading causes of death for athletes, laborers, and soldiers in training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Man
Gabrielle Brewer (right) and Michael Szymanski (left) collecting data in the medical tent at the Falmouth Road Race (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Faculty and graduate student researchers investigated four research questions. The first question looked at the impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) \u2014 commonly prescribed antidepressants \u2013 on thermoregulation.<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Brewer and Michael Szymanski, the graduate students leading the studies, were interested in this question largely because it is so understudied.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the athletic population is on these medications and not a lot of work has been done on [their impact on] thermoregulation,\u201d Szymanski says.<\/p>\n

One of the known side effects of SSRIs is that they reduce the amount a person sweats. Since sweating is the main mechanism through which people cool themselves, this may have a significant impact on thermoregulation during an intense outdoor activity like a race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re one of the first labs to be looking at this in a field setting,\u201d Brewer says. \u201cRegardless of what we find, this will serve as important pilot data for future studies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The KSI team also worked with colleagues from Boston\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital to study the impact of core body temperature on biomechanics \u2013 how runners move their bodies during the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re hotter, you get more fatigued and with fatigue, muscles, joints, and different parts of the body don\u2019t work as well,\u201d Szymanski says.<\/p>\n

Two other studies looked at the effectiveness of a device that assesses body temperature and a pre-cooling product. The findings from this research will help the companies developing those products determine how far away they are from practical use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing research at this race [for years] and every year we\u2019re excited to come back and keep moving forward,\u201d Brewer says. \u201cOur studies grow every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Falmouth Road Race provides the researchers with a unique field laboratory setting. In their lab, they cannot bring people above an internal body temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit for their safety. However, when someone is experiencing exertional heat stroke, their body temperature is commonly over 106 degrees Fahrenheit and may rise as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity at the Falmouth Road Race to examine [what happens] when people get really really hot at a race naturally,\u201d says Casa. \u201cThere\u2019s some fascinating research questions you can look at in those circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no lack of subjects for the KSI team\u2019s research. The event also provides a unique opportunity to provide life-saving care for heat illnesses.<\/p>\n

The Falmouth Road Race sees the most cases of exertional heat stroke of any race in the U.S. This is due to a combination of weather conditions and the race\u2019s length, Casa says.<\/p>\n

The race takes place in August each year, one of the hottest months in the Northeast. This year\u2019s race saw a high of 82 degrees and 100 humidity in the morning when the race started. These hot, humid conditions make it harder for runners to sweat and cool themselves effectively.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the seven-mile race falls into a kind of \u201csweet spot\u201d for exertional heat stroke, Casa says. Shorter races, like 5Ks end before runners can get their body temperature elevated to dangerous levels. Longer races, like marathons, require endurance rather than intensity, which helps runners stay cooler.<\/p>\n

This year, the team successfully treated more than 30 exertional heat strokes. Casa says that in the 50 years the race has been run, no one treated in the finish line medical tent has ever died of a heat stroke. This sterling track record means people come from around the world to study exertional heat stroke care at this race.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly the race knows what they\u2019re doing and that\u2019s why people come there to learn how to treat exertional heat strokes,\u201d Casa says.<\/p>\n

Casa and the KSI team have already marked their calendars for next year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Follow <\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a> on social media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, researchers from UConn’s Korey Stringer Institute take their work outside to help dozens of runners at the Falmouth Road Race<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":189626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,1715,2269,2299,2076,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-189622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-community-impact","category-inchip","category-kinesiology","category-research","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-28 14:38:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189622"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189700,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189622\/revisions\/189700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/189626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189622"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=189622"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=189622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}