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Moving in extreme environments

Edited by: James Cotter, Mike Tipton

Humans work, rest and recreate in a wide variety of environments, many of which could be defined as "extreme". The stressors, or lack thereof, in these environments underpin our enjoyment, tolerance, work capacity, safety and (mal)adaptations to them. But hazardous stressors can be difficult to detect and to legislate for in terms of exposure guidelines.

These issues were discussed for a range of environments at a dedicated meeting at the University of Otago in 2013, and are introduced in the Editorial below and discussed in seven further articles contributing to this "Moving in Extreme Environments" thematic series.

The articles have not been sponsored and have undergone the journal’s standard peer review process. The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.

  1. This review addresses human capacity for movement in the context of extreme loading and with it the combined effects of metabolic, biomechanical and gravitational stress on the human body. This topic encompass...

    Authors: Samuel J. E. Lucas, Jørn W. Helge, Uwe H. W. Schütz, Ralph F. Goldman and James D. Cotter
    Citation: Extreme Physiology & Medicine 2016 5:6
    Content type: Review Published on:

  3. Hydration pertains simplistically to body water volume. Functionally, however, hydration is one aspect of fluid regulation that is far more complex, as it involves the homeostatic regulation of total body flui...

    Authors: James David Cotter, Simon N Thornton, Jason KW Lee and Paul B Laursen
    Citation: Extreme Physiology & Medicine 2014 3:18
    Content type: Review Published on:

  4. Occupational heat exposure threatens the health of a worker not only when heat illness occurs but also when a worker’s performance and work capacity is impaired. Occupational contexts that involve hot and humi...

    Authors: Rebekah A I Lucas, Yoram Epstein and Tord Kjellstrom
    Citation: Extreme Physiology & Medicine 2014 3:14
    Content type: Review Published on:

  6. Humans work, rest and play in immensely varied extreme environments. The term ‘extreme’ typically refers to insufficiency or excess of one or more stressors, such as thermal energy or gravity. Individuals’ beh...

    Authors: James David Cotter and Michael J Tipton
    Citation: Extreme Physiology & Medicine 2014 3:11
    Content type: Commentary Published on: