August 27, 2012 Comments 1 Makala Coleman 1805 Views

Kinesiology Adds New Equipment

od Bussey, associate professor of kinesiology, left, and Vesa Naukkarinen, chair of kinesiology watch as the Quinton Q-Stress machine is installed.

The kinesiology department at Southwestern Adventist University was able to purchase two pieces of equipment this summer: the ParvoMedics TrueOne 2400 and the Quinton Q-Stress.

“These will help students who are looking into physical therapy and exercise science,” said Vesa Naukkarinen, chair of kinesiology. “Students need skills on how to administer tests with these machines if they are planning on working in a hospital setting. Having these will be very useful for our students.

The ParvoMedics TrueOne 2400 is a compact, integrated metabolic measurement system for pulmonary stress testing, indirect calorimetry, and maximal oxygen consumption measurement.

Simply put, the machine measures cardiovascular endurance such as oxygen uptake and utilization during a workout, according to Naukkarinen. He also said that it is the machine used at the National Institute of Health, NASA and U.S. Olympic Training Centers.

The Quinton Q-Stress is a cardiac stress-testing system that has won multiple awards, most recently Frost and Sullivan’s Market Engineering Award. It is used to examine how the heart responds to exercise.

“We’ve been trying to save money for this for a few years,” said Naukkarinen. “I think it will take the quality of our program to the next level and help attract students.”

The equipment will be used in kinesiology classes and by the kinesiology majors. The number of students in the department has grown from 23 to 34 over the past three years. Twenty of those students are exercise science majors.