A wearable system for respiratory and pace monitoring in running activities: a feasibility study

Wearable devices are extensively used for monitoring physiological parameters both in clinical settings and in sports science. Among others, respiratory rate is mostly neglected but is a valid index to assess athletes' performance. The purpose of this work was to test a wearable device composed of two elastic bands embedding conductive textiles during a running session of approximately 9.5 km. The test has been carried out by a young healthy volunteer who worn two bands on the rib cage (one on the upper thorax and one on the umbilicus). The frequency-domain analysis allowed estimating both respiratory parameters (i.e., the average respiratory rate, $\overline{f_{R}})$ and running related parameters (i.e., estimated running distance and average running pace). The wearable system was able to perform a good estimation of both respiratory and gait parameters allowing a better understanding of the relationship between the fatigue and the respiratory activity, enabling a more accurate running performance evaluation.