Equipment and Data Collection

In order to individually meet the needs of both occupational and sporting clients, Optimal Performance Limited uses a bespoke combination of cutting edge technology, research design and equipment. The scientific data provide the basis for evidence-based recommendations delivered through oral presentations and written reports.

Below is a selection of our core technologies used for data collection, the majority of which are portable and wireless allowing us to operate seamlessly in the field, collecting data on up to 100 individuals at once. All of our monitoring equipment is carefully chosen so that the impact on the wearer is minimal meaning normal behaviour is captured.

We also maintain close links with a number of renowned laboratories meaning that projects requiring more tightly controlled trials away from the working environment can be easily accommodated. Through these laboratories we have access to environmental chambers enabling us to simulate altitude and both hot and cold environments.

Heart Rate

  • Polar Team 2 system
  • Continuous 5-second heart rate for up to 10 days
  • An index of cardiovascular strain
  • Up to 100 individuals monitored simultaneously
  • Up to 100 individuals monitored ‘live’ in real time
  • No watch straps
  • Polar website

Core Temperature

  • Small ingestible telemetric pills
  • Continuous 20-second data for up to 48 hours
  • Real time ‘live’ core temperature monitoring
  • Key safety measure during trials in hot and cold environments
  • HQInc website
  • Flexible rectal probes are available where a gold standard measure of core temperature is required

Physical Activity

  • Small, portable movement sensors
  • Measure frequency, intensity and duration of physical activity
  • Continuous 5-second data for up to 2 weeks
  • Biotel Website

Energy Expenditure

  • Doubly labelled water
    • The most accurate method of assessing energy expenditure in a free-living population over extended time periods
    • Also provides an estimate of body composition.
  • Indirect calorimetry (laboratory and portable)
    • Oxygen uptake and subsequently energy expenditure can be derived from expired air
    • Best suited for short measurement periods (i.e. up to 3 hours) in the laboratory or field.

Skin temperature

  • A range of bespoke systems available depending on the project needs
  • I-buttons
    • small non-invasive sensors that wirelessly store continuous temperature data
    • I-buttons website
  • Grant thermistors and squirrel loggers
    • Widely used skin sensors, used when ‘live’ monitoring is not required
    • Fireproof accessories
  • Eltek skin thermistors and data transmitters
    • High precision sensors that can both store and transmit ‘live’ temperature measurements
    • Eltek website

Nutritional Analysis and Hydration

  • Experience in collecting weighed dietary intake in the field
  • Qualified dieticians and nutritionists
  • Use of nutritional software to analyse diet composition
  • Comparison to international standards
  • Development of food policy within an educational setting
  • Use of “osmocheck” a refractometer to determine urine osmolality and hydration status

Anthropometry and Body Composition

  • Precision weighing scales, stadiometers and skinfold callipers
  • Measuring individuals or populations and comparing to normative values
  • Assessing changes in body composition and size over time

Injury Surveillance

  • Injury rates and risk factors established using questionnaires (prospective) and database interrogation (retrospective)

 

Fitness Assessment (Field and Laboratory)

  • VO2 max (Treadmill or cycle ergometer, multistage fitness test)
  • Blood lactate (e.g. lactate threshold)
  • Lung function
  • Target heart rate training zones
  • ECG
  • Muscle fatigue, strength and function
  • Training programmes
  • Basal Metabolic Rate