Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Unit, SPPEFF Department, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; THERMOSENSELAB, Skin Sensing Research Group, School of Health Sciences, The University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
THERMOSENSELAB, School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
Physiol Behav. 2023 Apr 1;262:114112. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114112. Epub 2023 Feb 6.
Differences in skin thermal sensitivity have been extensively mapped across areas of the human body, including the torso, limbs, and extremities. Yet, there are parts of the female body, such as the breast and the pelvis for which we have limited thermal sensitivity data. The aim of this study was to map cutaneous warm and cold sensitivity across skin areas of the breast and pelvis that are commonly covered by female underwear. Twelve young females (21.9 ± 3.2 years) reported on a 200 mm visual analogue scale the perceived magnitude of local thermal sensations arising from short-duration (10 s) static application of a cold [5 °C below local skin temperature (T)] or warm (5 °C above local T) thermal probe (25 cm) in seventeen locations over the breast and pelvis regions. The data revealed that thermal sensitivity to the warm probe, but not the cold probe, varied by up to 25% across the breast [mean difference between lowest and highest sensitivity location was 51 mm (95% CI:14, 89; p < 0.001)] and up to 23% across the pelvis [mean difference between lowest and highest sensitivity location: 46 mm (95% CI:9, 84; p = 0.001)]. The regional differences in baseline T did not account for variance in warm thermal sensitivity. Inter-individual variability in thermal sensitivity ranged between 24 and 101% depending on skin location. We conclude that the skin across the female breast and pelvis presents a heterogenous distribution of warm, but not cold, thermal sensitivity. These findings may inform the design of more comfortable clothing that are mapped to the thermal needs of the female body.
人体各部位的皮肤热敏感性差异已得到广泛研究，包括躯干、四肢和末端。然而，女性身体的某些部位，如乳房和骨盆，我们只有有限的热敏感性数据。本研究的目的是绘制乳房和骨盆皮肤区域的皮肤温冷敏感性图谱，这些区域通常被女性内衣覆盖。12 名年轻女性（21.9±3.2 岁）使用 200mm 视觉模拟量表报告了在乳房和骨盆区域的 17 个部位，短时间（10s）静态应用冷（比局部皮肤温度低 5°C）或温（比局部温度高 5°C）热探头（25cm）时，局部热感觉的感知强度。数据显示，对温探头的敏感性，而不是冷探头的敏感性，在乳房区域内差异高达 25%[最低和最高敏感部位之间的平均差异为 51mm（95%CI：14，89；p<0.001）]，在骨盆区域内差异高达 23%[最低和最高敏感部位之间的平均差异为 46mm（95%CI：9，84；p=0.001）]。基线 T 的区域差异不能解释温觉敏感性的变化。热敏感性的个体间变异性在不同皮肤部位的差异在 24%至 101%之间。我们得出结论，女性乳房和骨盆的皮肤呈现出不均匀的温觉敏感性分布，但对冷觉敏感性没有差异。这些发现可能为更舒适的服装设计提供信息，这些服装可以根据女性身体的热需求进行映射。
