Energetic and Cognitive Demands of Treading Water: Effects of Technique and Expertise

van Duijn, T; Button, C; Cotter, JD; Masters, RSW

Energetic and Cognitive Demands of Treading Water: Effects of Technique and Expertise

van Duijn, T

Button, C Cotter, JD Masters, RSW

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Publisher:: Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, pp. 726-738

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	van Duijn, T https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3869-7600
dc.contributor.author	Button, C
dc.contributor.author	Cotter, JD
dc.contributor.author	Masters, RSW
dc.date.accessioned	2023-11-12T22:14:11Z
dc.date.available	2023-11-12T22:14:11Z
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, pp. 726-738
dc.identifier.issn	1303-2968
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173352
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>Being able to tread water effectively can improve the likelihood of survival following accidental immersion. People tread water in various ways, ranging from rudimentary ‘doggy-paddle’ to more elaborate techniques like the eggbeater, but little is known about the energetic and cognitive requirements of treading water. We therefore aimed to measure the demands of treading water techniques for people of different experience levels. Three cohorts, comprising 21 adult water treading experts (water polo players), 15 intermediate swimmers and 16 inexperienced swimmers, treaded water for 3 min each using four different techniques while cognitive and energetic economy measures were taken. For inexperienced swimmers, the flutter kick and breaststroke patterns produced the lowest self-reported physical and task load (rating of perceived exertion, NASA task load index), while cognitive (probe reaction time), cardiac (heart rate) and metabolic (oxygen consumption) load did not differ between techniques. In contrast, for expert water treaders, both breaststroke and eggbeater patterns produced lower cognitive, cardiac and metabolic loads. For intermediate swimmers, breaststroke resulted in the lowest cardiac and metabolic loads, as well as self-reported task load. Probe reaction time was highest while performing the eggbeater technique, indicating that this technique was challenging to coordinate and cognitively demanding. While the energetic demands of antiphase kicking patterns (such as eggbeater in experts or flutter kick in beginners) may be similarly low, the symmetric coordination of upright breaststroke may explain why this pattern’s cognitive economy was favourable for all groups. As the eggbeater can be challenging to perform for many people, an upright breaststroke technique is an adequate alternative to adopt in survival situations.</jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.52082/jssm.2023.726
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.subject	0913 Mechanical Engineering, 1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 1701 Psychology
dc.subject.classification	Sport Sciences
dc.subject.classification	3202 Clinical sciences
dc.subject.classification	4207 Sports science and exercise
dc.subject.classification	5201 Applied and developmental psychology
dc.title	Energetic and Cognitive Demands of Treading Water: Effects of Technique and Expertise
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	0913 Mechanical Engineering
utslib.for	1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences
utslib.for	1701 Psychology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
utslib.copyright.status	embargoed	*
utslib.copyright.embargo	2025-12-01T00:00:00+1000Z
dc.date.updated	2023-11-12T22:14:09Z
pubs.publication-status	Accepted

Abstract:

Being able to tread water effectively can improve the likelihood of survival following accidental immersion. People tread water in various ways, ranging from rudimentary ‘doggy-paddle’ to more elaborate techniques like the eggbeater, but little is known about the energetic and cognitive requirements of treading water. We therefore aimed to measure the demands of treading water techniques for people of different experience levels. Three cohorts, comprising 21 adult water treading experts (water polo players), 15 intermediate swimmers and 16 inexperienced swimmers, treaded water for 3 min each using four different techniques while cognitive and energetic economy measures were taken. For inexperienced swimmers, the flutter kick and breaststroke patterns produced the lowest self-reported physical and task load (rating of perceived exertion, NASA task load index), while cognitive (probe reaction time), cardiac (heart rate) and metabolic (oxygen consumption) load did not differ between techniques. In contrast, for expert water treaders, both breaststroke and eggbeater patterns produced lower cognitive, cardiac and metabolic loads. For intermediate swimmers, breaststroke resulted in the lowest cardiac and metabolic loads, as well as self-reported task load. Probe reaction time was highest while performing the eggbeater technique, indicating that this technique was challenging to coordinate and cognitively demanding. While the energetic demands of antiphase kicking patterns (such as eggbeater in experts or flutter kick in beginners) may be similarly low, the symmetric coordination of upright breaststroke may explain why this pattern’s cognitive economy was favourable for all groups. As the eggbeater can be challenging to perform for many people, an upright breaststroke technique is an adequate alternative to adopt in survival situations.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173352