Efficacy of physical exercises in long-term space flights on ISS

Paper number

IAC-06-A1.3.02

Author

Dr. Inessa Kozlovskaya, Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russia

Coauthor

Dr. Anatoly I. Grigoriev, Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russia

Coauthor

Mr. Valery V. Bogomolov, Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russia

Year

2006

Abstract

Russian members of the ISS crew used as a basic one a Russian system of countermeasures, which consisted primarily of special sets of four-day physical training cycles with onboard exercise devices. The set of countermeasures for an extended-duration flight also included the wearing of the Penguin loading suit, a cycle of LBNP exercises at the final stage of the flight, and administration of water-salt additives and means of antigravity protection at the stage of descent and landing. The nature of adaptive reactions of the cosmonauts’ functional systems during the flight could depend on how adequate the program of inflight countermeasures was implemented. Analysis of flight data has shown extensive differences in the use of different countermeasures, attributable to personal preferences of cosmonauts and the degree of their readiness to follow the prescribed regimens of countermeasures.
The Russian inflight system to monitor to the cosmonaut’s physical conditions includes the registration of the level of physical loads on the treadmill in a four-day exercise cycle, assessment of the level of physical conditioning in an 11-minute incrementally increasing locomotor test on TVIS - MO-3 - and a standard incrementally increasing test on a bicycle ergometer - MO-5. Assessment of the dynamics of the maximal speed of running on TVIS and cardiac rate data in the MO-3 locomotor test show that the first month of the flight witnesses a steep fall in the level of physical performance. By the middle of the flight and particularly by the end of the flight in case when physical exercises were performed in accordance with recommended regimens, there was revealed an indication of a gradual rise in the level of physical conditioning. Yet more proof of that is the dynamics of pulmonary ventilation data in the MO-3 locomotor test. 
The Russian program of assessing physiological functions after space flights called for the examination of the state of osseous and muscular tissue, coordination functions, vestibular and sensory systems’ state. Results of these examination in Russian cosmonauts of main ISS expeditions demonstrated different changes in different individuals, which were comparable with the results of similar examinations conducted after extended-duration flights on Russian stations of the Salyut and Mir type, being closely linked to a volume and intensities of countermeasures’ physical exercises.

Abstract document

IAC-06-A1.3.02.pdf

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