Oxygen saturation measurements in athletes attaining maximal exertion conditions

Abstract

Maximal effort tests are used to check the fitness of athletes and to assess their status of health. Measurements performed during the test are also useful to understand athlete physiology and to optimise the training protocols. One of the interesting measurements that can be performed is the oxygen saturation and desaturation in blood along with cardiac rate. The task is complicated by the fact that standard instrumentation (oximeters) are affect by movement artefact, and in the case of this kind of tests movements can be so strong and wide that the measurement is invalidated. In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed which achieve meaningful measurements even in presence of very strong movement artefact.