Jump height from inertial recordings: A tutorial for a sports scientist

Abstract

Jump performance provides meaningful information both for sporting and clinical needs. Current state of the art in jump performance assessment is laboratory-bound; however, out-of-the-laboratory methods are desirable. Therefore, the purposes of the present investigation were (a) to explore whether utilizing a novel analytical approach minimizes the bias between inertial recording unit (IMU)-based and jump mat-based jump height estimates and (b) to provide a thorough tutorial for a sport scientist (see Appendix S1) to facilitate standardization of jump height estimation.Forty-one women, men, and boys aged 6 to 77 years completed three maximal countermovement jumps without arm swing, which were concurrently registered with a jump mat, and an IMU worn in low lumbar region. Excellent agreement between the novel IMU-based jump height and jump mat jump height was observed (mean IMU 22.6 [8.3] cm, mean jump mat 22.7 [8.9], mean bias −0.1 cm [95% limits of agreement −4.5 cm to 4.4 cm; P = .826], and intra-class correlation coefficient 0.97 [95% CI 0.94 to 0.98, P < .001]). In conclusion, inertial recordings conducted with lightweight IMUs worn on the hip provide a valid and feasible assessment of jump height among people with varying athletic ability. Inertial signals have the potential to afford (at least semi-) automated analysis pipeline with low labor cost thus being potentially feasible in applied settings such as in professional sports or in the clinics. K E Y W O R D Saccelerometer, gyroscope, inertial measurement unit, performance, signal processing, wearable

Test–Retest and Between–Device Reliability of Vmaxpro IMU at Hip and Ankle for Vertical Jump Measurement

“…Taking into account the changes in kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy from the moment of take-off to the peak of the jump, the jump height reached can be calculated by where v 0 is the take-off velocity. Therefore, by measuring the peak velocity data with the IMU, the vertical jump height can be calculated as this corresponds to the take-off velocity [ 1 ]. The data are sent instantly via Bluetooth wireless connection (65 Hz) to a smartphone or tablet device with the Vmaxpro app (BM Sports Technology GmbH, Magdeburg, Germany) installed, allowing the data to be viewed instantly and exported to a spreadsheet in CSV format.…”

“…The ability to generate force in the lower body can be considered a performance factor in sports. One way to assess and monitor this force and power is through the vertical jump (VJ) [ 1 ]. The countermovement jump (CMJ) has been used to monitor the fitness of athletes [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] and fatigue [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Validity of the Baiobit Inertial Measurements Unit for the Assessment of Vertical Double- and Single-Leg Countermovement Jumps in Athletes

“…The parameters in Table 2 were manually imported from the Baiobit software into an Excel worksheet and the same parameters were computed through an ad hoc script in Matlab ® (R2020a MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA, USA) and then plotted ( Figure 3 and Figure 4 ) [ 25 ].…”

Machine learning aided jump height estimate democratization through smartphone measures

“…An IMU is composed of two triaxial sensors, namely an accelerometer and a gyroscope, measuring the net force acting on the sensors and their rate of change in angular velocity, respectively ( 14 ). The CoM behavior during a jump can be reliably tracked ( 15 ) using IMU-measured vertical acceleration by means of an appropriate sensor attachment and position ( 16 ), typically a belt worn at pelvis level, and mathematical manipulation ( 11 ). The rapid rise and the consequent cost reduction of smartphone devices (SP), which natively embed IMUs, suggests that such an analysis may be accomplished using them.…”