Occupational burden of circus

ABSTRACT

Circus is a specific work demanding high physical effort and emotional strain. Using monitoring ECG, the survey was conducted on 12 young male and female circus actors, aged 14-21 years during their training performance. The aim of the survey was to evaluate circus workload on cardio-vascular system. The obtained results showed that circus could be considered as extreme heavy work according to the Christensen's classification. Their average heart rate (RH) during the performance was 163 beats/min (heart rate at rest was 76.6 beats/mn). The momentary maximal HR was 255 beats/min for swinging performance on altitude and 198 beats/min for jumping and marking loops in the net. Their minute HR variations were 35-130 beats/min and 10-58 beats/min accordingly. The benefit of the monitoring ECG in studying some specific occupations was confirmed.