Hands-on Science 2023
How do the ring ligaments and fingertips change through regular climbing? Where does the energy for my finger flexors come from? Can applied forces on holds or a campus board say anything about the climbing level? If you have ever wondered about such things, we invite you to our Hands-on Science booth in the Village of Experiences at the external pageClimbing World Championships in Bern. Participate in entertaining experiments (listed below), while we explain the current state of research!
Forces acting on a campusboard
Are you familiar with campusboard training? What forces are involved? For the first time we have instrumented a campus board in such a way that the forces acting on the rungs are recorded during the movement. Does the climbing level influence the force curves? We want to investigate this question and invite you to try out our campusboard at our Hands-on Science booth.
We can also find out whether you can develop more strength in the open or curved hand, or work out with you how our measuring devices can complement the Powerslap test.
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Availability:
whenever the Village of Experiences is open
Ergonomics of climbing shoes
Do you know the feeling of enduring tight climbing shoes? Do you even experience pain in your feet during or after climbing? That should now come to an end. Using advanced technologies, hooq develops custom-made climbing shoes tailored to the unique anatomy of your feet and the requirements of each individual. To further refine our digital shoe molding process, hooq is currently building a comprehensive database of foot shapes using 3D scans. Let your feet be scanned at our hands-on science booth and learn more about hooq.
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August 4 – August 6
Ultrasonographic measurements of the hand
While training and climbing, different forces tend to change the basic structures and anatomy of the hand over the years. While already knowing a lot about the ligament and tendon structures of the hand, the skin of the fingertips and the intrinsic muscles haven’t been looked at alot. We will be measuring the layers of your skin, as well as the cross section of your intrinsic muscles to gain further knowledge for future studies to come.
Come by and take your chance to get an insight in your hands.
Presented by:
Availability:
whenever the Village of Experiences is open
Interaction forces on a climbing wall
If you have ever tried climbing, you know that a small change in posture can make a lot of difference. If you are an experienced climber, you also know that the key to efficient climbing is to spare your muscles as much as possible. But how much of a difference are you making when you move your hips, or relax your arms? We have designed a sensor network that can measure the 3D forces between a climber and all the holds of a climbing wall, and provide an immediate and intuitive way to analyze them. We can tell how much load you are transferring between arms and legs as you adjust your position, or if your choice of a different pair of shoes is really making a difference.
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August 10 - August 12
Muscle metabolism in climbing
Climbing is a highly localised activity, with over 70% of climbing level explainable through finger-arm strength variation. How do we generate energy for high intensity climbing tasks? What energetic systems are involved and what role does oxygen play? If we manipulate oxygen levels, what effect does this have on performance? Using innovative Muscle NIRS sensors, we can look into muscle metabolism in real-time to see how oxygen supply and demand relates to finger strength during finger hang exercise. Join us and take a deep dive into climbing physiology.
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Availability:
whenever the Village of Experiences is open
Thick forearms or what?
Muscle strength also plays a big role in climbing. The forearms are also significantly involved. Which muscles are relevant and what do they look like? Are the muscles pronounced differently depending on the climbing level and is the size of the muscles related to climbing-specific strength? We want to get to the bottom of these questions and you are cordially invited to take a closer look at your forearm muscles using ultrasound at our Hands-on Science booth.
Presented by:
Availability:
whenever the Village of Experiences is open