Underwater walking (UW) is becoming a popular exercise because of the characteristics of water to promote the health of the elderly. However, buoyancy and viscous resistance, disturb the translational motions of walking and people are forced to adopt unbalanced and a-periodic walking styles in water. We have developed the prototype of a hand grip tool that opens and closes like a parasol to resolve these problems pertaining to UW. The present study aimed to compare the new prototype with an existing product, the Aqua handle (AH, Nemcomed GmbH), during UW with regard to the exercise effects and the ease of use felt by participants. We compared perceived exertion (RPE), changes in heart rate (HR), and the feeling of use (FU) during UW between two sizes of the prototype, large (L) and small (S), and AH, a rigid, funnel-type of hand grip tool. Participants (n=10) performed 50 m of UW at a fixed pace (andante tempo). In the analysis, mean HR was found to be high in the order of AH > L > S (AH: 106 ± 11.5bpm, L: 103.4 ± 12.5bpm, S: 99.2 ± 12.1bpm). RPE scores also showed the same tendency at AH: 12.7 ± 2.1, L: 11.7 ± 1.4, S: 10.7 ± 2.0. Participants were asked to answer questions with respect to FU on a scale of 1 to 3 (1: good, 2: normal, 3: bad). Though, S showed the lowest HR and RPE, the results proved that L was the easiest to handle and was expected to be effective for use in UW.
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