RESUMO
Research into obtaining a fast, valid, reliable and non-invasive measure of core temperature is of interest in many disciplinary fields. Occupational and sports medicine research has attempted to determine a non-invasive proxy for core temperature particularly when access to participants is limited and thermal safety is of a concern due to protective encapsulating clothing, hot ambient environments and/or high endogenous heat production during athletic competition. This investigation aimed to determine the validity of inner canthus of the eye temperature (TEC) as an alternate non-invasive measure of intestinal core temperature (TC) during rest, exercise and post-exercise conditions. Twelve physically active males rested for 30min prior to exercise, performed 60min of aerobic exercise at 60% VÌO2max and passively recovered a further 60min post-exercise. TEC and TC were measured at 5min intervals during each condition. Mean differences between TEC and TC were 0.61°C during pre-exercise, -1.78°C during exercise and -1.00°C during post-exercise. The reliability between the methods was low in the pre-exercise (ICC=0.49 [-0.09 to 0.82]), exercise (ICC=-0.14 [-0.65 to 0.44]) and post-exercise (ICC=-0.25 [-0.70 to 0.35]) conditions. In conclusion, poor agreement was observed between the TEC values measured through IRT and TC measured through a gastrointestinal telemetry pill. Therefore, TEC is not a valid substitute measurement to gastrointestinal telemetry pill in sports and exercise science settings.