Caution using data from triaxial accelerometers housed in player tracking units during running

Edwards, Suzi; White, Samuel; Humphreys, Seaton; Robergs, Robert A.; O’Dwyer, Nicholas

doi:10.1080/02640414.2018.1527675

Cited by 42 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This information may also inform training program design by allowing for tailored drills to accommodate the under-or over-loaded lower-limb. As such, researchers have sought to extend the versatility of GPS units, and utilize in-built accelerometers to calculate external mechanical load variables such as vertical GRFs (Edwards et al, 2018). However, this method tends to exhibit poor reliability (ICC: ≤0.67; CV%: 14-33%), and poor validity when compared to three-dimensional motion analysis and force platform data (Edwards et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of lower-limb asymmetry in professional rugby league: a technical note describing the use of inertial measurement units

Glassbrook

Fuller

Alderson

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Background Quantifying lower-limb load and asymmetry during team sport match-play may be important for injury prevention and understanding performance. However, current analysis methods of lower-limb symmetry during match-play employ wearable microtechnology that may not be best suited to the task. A popular microtechnology is global positioning systems (GPS), which are torso worn. The torso location, and the summary workload measures calculated by GPS are not suited to the calculation of lower-limb load. Instead, research grade accelerometers placed directly on the lower-limb may provide better load information than GPS. This study proposes a new technique to quantify external mechanical load, and lower-limb asymmetry during on-field team sport play using inertial measurement units. Methods Four professional rugby league players (Age: 23.4 ± 3.1 years; Height: 1.89 ± 0.05 m; Mass: 107.0 ± 12.9 kg) wore two accelerometers, one attached to each foot by the boot laces, during match simulations. Custom Matlab (R2017b, The Mathworks Inc, Natick, MA) code was used to calculate total time, area under the curve (AUC), and percentage of time (%Time) spent in seven acceleration categories (negative to very high, <0 g to >16 g), as well as minimum and maximum acceleration during match simulations. Lower-limb AUC and %Time asymmetry was calculated using the Symmetry Angle Equation, which does not require normalization to a reference leg. Results The range of accelerations experienced across all participants on the left and right sides were 15.68–17.53 g, and 16.18–17.69 g, respectively. Clinically significant asymmetry in AUC and %Time was observed for all but one participant, and only in negative (<0 g) and very high accelerations (>16 g). Clinically significant AUC differences in very high accelerations ranged from 19.10%–26.71%. Clinically significant %Time differences in negative accelerations ranged from 12.65%–25.14%, and in very high accelerations from 18.59%–25.30%. All participants experienced the most AUC at very low accelerations (2–4 g), and the least AUC at very high accelerations (165.00–194.00 AU vs. 0.32–3.59 AU). The %Time results indicated that all participants spent the majority of match-play (73.82–92.06%) in extremely low (0–2 g) to low (4–6 g) acceleration intensities, and the least %Time in very high accelerations (0.01%–0.05%). Discussion A wearable located on the footwear to measure lower-limb load and asymmetry is feasible to use during rugby league match-play. The location of the sensor on the boot is suited to minimize injury risk occurring from impact to the sensor. This technique is able to quantify external mechanical load and detect inter limb asymmetries during match-play at the source of impact and loading, and is therefore likely to be better than current torso based methods. The results of this study may assist in preparing athletes for match-play, and in preventing injury.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of lower-limb asymmetry in professional rugby league: a technical note describing the use of inertial measurement units

Glassbrook

Fuller

Alderson

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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“…Based on the relationship between force and acceleration according to Newton's second law (F=m•a), segmental movements may be used to indirectly estimate GRF [57,58,59]. Currently popular body-worn accelerometers have, therefore, received special attention for their potential to measure GRF in this manner [41,60,61,62,63,64,65]. Several studies have, however, demonstrated that either whole GRF waveforms [60,61,62], or even specific GRF features [41,61,63], cannot be estimated well from individual trunk-, pelvis-or shank-mounted accelerometers.…”

Section: Whole-body Loadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently popular body-worn accelerometers have, therefore, received special attention for their potential to measure GRF in this manner [41,60,61,62,63,64,65]. Several studies have, however, demonstrated that either whole GRF waveforms [60,61,62], or even specific GRF features [41,61,63], cannot be estimated well from individual trunk-, pelvis-or shank-mounted accelerometers. In fact, the majority of segmental accelerations are likely required to accurately estimate GRF [57,58], making the use of one or even a combination of several accelerometer units to predict GRF probably insufficient.…”

Section: Whole-body Loadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring biomechanical loads in team sports – from lab to field

Verheul

Nedergaard

Vanrenterghem

et al. 2020

Science and Medicine in Football

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The benefits of differentiating between the physiological and biomechanical load-response pathways in football and other (team) sports have become increasingly recognised. In contrast to physiological loads however, the biomechanical demands of training and competition are still not well understood, primarily due to the difficulty of quantifying biomechanical loads in a field environment. Although musculoskeletal adaptation and injury are known to occur at a tissue level, several biomechanical load metrics are available that quantify loads experienced by the body as a whole, its different structures and the individual tissues that are part of these structures. This paper discusses the distinct aspects and challenges that are associated with measuring biomechanical loads at these different levels in laboratory and/or field contexts. Our hope is that through this paper, sport scientists and practitioners will be able to critically consider the value and limitations of biomechanical load metrics and will keep pursuing new methods to measure these loads within and outside the lab, as a detailed load quantification is essential to better understand the biomechanical load-response pathways that occur in the field.

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“…Ground reaction forces (GRF) have, therefore, been suggested as a measure of external whole-body biomechanical loading, which might be estimated from currently popular body-worn accelerometers 2,3 . Estimating GRF from single accelerometers is, however, not straightforward [4][5][6] . Whilst there might be the potential of using full-body segmental accelerations to estimate GRF, reducing the number of segments to a number more feasible in a practical setting has been shown to substantially increase the GRF error 2,7 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is unlikely that GRF can be predicted from one or several segmental accelerations using mechanical methods 3,4,6 . However, these approaches typically use acceleration signals from predefined segments deemed important for GRF but do not allow for an agnostic identification of generalised multisegmental contributions to the GRF.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying generalised segmental acceleration patterns that contribute to ground reaction force features across different running tasks

Verheul

Warmenhoven²,

Lisboa

et al. 2019

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

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Caution using data from triaxial accelerometers housed in player tracking units during running

Cited by 42 publications

References 28 publications

Measurement of lower-limb asymmetry in professional rugby league: a technical note describing the use of inertial measurement units

Measurement of lower-limb asymmetry in professional rugby league: a technical note describing the use of inertial measurement units

Measuring biomechanical loads in team sports – from lab to field

Identifying generalised segmental acceleration patterns that contribute to ground reaction force features across different running tasks

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