A Wearable Biosensor for Sweat Lactate as a Proxy for Sport Performance Monitoring

Abstract

In the last decade, sport performance assessment has signifi-cantly transformed due to the appearance of disruptivetechnologies. Subjective pen and paper notations have evolvedinto advanced wearable sensing systems that acquire perform-ance-related data. The selection of adequate performancemetric variables always causes a debate in sport physiology,and this becomes more relevant once new biochemicalindicators are proposed, such as sweat lactate. Here, we analyzethe correlation of real-time sweat lactate, obtained with avalidated wearable biosensor, with the typical physiologicalparameters often recorded in sports laboratories (e. g., bloodlactate, Borg scale for the rating of perceived exertion, heartrate, power output, blood glucose, and respiratory quotient).We found that the heart rate, power output, Borg scale, andblood lactate relate to sweat lactate in independent individualsduring cycling activity. Hence, we demonstrate the potential toassociate non-invasive, quantitative, and personalized analysiswith sport practice.