In this paper, we investigate monitoring of kinematic changes evoked by fatigue in running using wearable technology. Movement data were recorded with ETHOS devices. ETHOS is the ETH Orientation Sensor, a customized inertial measurement unit for unconstrained monitoring of human movement. We perform two real-world experiments, in which 21 runners of different skill levels participated. The real-world experiments capture two exhausting 45-min runs: one on a treadmill and one on a conventional outdoor track. We describe and evaluate algorithms to extract kinematic parameters from the sensor data. We identified parameters that change with fatigue for all runners, ones that change for runners of distinct skill levels, and ones that are dependent on an individual's running technique. Overall, we found that observations from treadmill running are not always generalizable to outdoor running. We, thus, argue for using wearable technology to provide athletes and trainers with continuous, quantitative objective measurements of running technique. These could be used to further gain insight into the complex relationship of running kinematics, injury risk, fatigue, and running economy.

Manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder, is a common and severe form of mental disorder. The European research project MONARCA aims at developing and validating mobile technologies for multiparametric, long term monitoring of physiological and behavioral information relevant to bipolar disorder. One aspect of MONARCA is to investigate the long term monitoring of Electrodermal activity (EDA) to support the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder patients. EDA is known as an indicator of the emotional state and the stress level of a person. To realize a long-term monitoring of the EDA, the integration of the sensor system in the shoe or sock is a promising approach. This paper presents a first step towards such a sensor system. In a feasibility study including 8 subjects, we investigate the correlation between EDA measurements at the fingers, which is the most established sensing site, with measurements of the EDA at the feet. The results indicate that 88% of the evoked skin conductance responses (SCRs) occur at both sensing sites. When using an action movie as psychophysiologically activating stimulus, we have found weaker reactivity in the foot than in the hand EDA. The results also suggest that the influence of moderate physical activity on EDA measurements is low and has a similar effect for both recording sites. This suggests that the foot recording location is suitable for recordings in daily life even in the presence of moderate movement.

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