Using the VERT wearable device to monitor jumping loads in elite volleyball athletes

Abstract

Sport is becoming increasingly competitive and athletes are being exposed to greater physical demands, leaving them prone to injuries. Monitoring athletes with the use of wearable technology could provide a way to potentially manage training and competition loads and reduce injuries. One such technology is the VERT inertial measurement unit, a commercially available discrete wearable device containing a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis magnetometer. Some of the main measurement outputs include jump count, jump height and landing impacts. While several studies have examined the accuracy of the VERT’s measures of jump height and jump count, landing impact force has not yet been investigated. The objective of this research study was to explore the validity of the VERT landing impact values. We hypothesized that the absolute peak VERT acceleration values during a jump-land cycle would fall within 10% of the peak acceleration values derived simultaneously from a research-grade accelerometer (Shimmer). Fourteen elite university-level volleyball players each performed 10 jumps while wearing both devices simultaneously. The results showed that VERT peak accelerations were variable (limits of agreement of -84.13% and 52.37%) and had a propensity to be lower (mean bias of -15.88%) when compared to the Shimmer. In conclusion, the validity of the VERT device’s landing impact values are generally poor, when compared to the Shimmer.

Precision and Accuracy of a Simple Consumer-oriented Wristband Activity Tracker During Walking at Different Speeds

“…Three members of our research team walked 200 steps at their own pace along a corridor wearing Shimmer (Shimmer Sensing, Dublin, Ireland) and FAIT Tag on the non-dominant wrist. Shimmer is a research-grade inertial measurement unit 15,16 . We acquired acceleration values during walking at a sampling rate of 256…”

Flexible functional composites for athlete health monitoring and auxiliary training applications

“…The sensors can be used to collect heart rate, speed, strength, rhythm, distance, time, and provide real-time feedback to athletes, so that they can track and adjust their exercise level. The jump monitor, a wearable device launched by Vert Company, is small and can be easily installed at the waist of athletes (Manor et al 2020;Damji et al 2021;Piatti et al 2021). It can monitor the height and number of jumps of an athlete in real time, as well as the amount of exercise to effectively prevent athletes from being injured.…”

Concurrent Validity and Reliability of In-Field Vertical Jump Performance Measures on Sand Surfaces

“…Possible solutions include the emergence of user-friendly systems based on IMU, which already exist for in-field measurements of jumping. The VERT is a user-friendly commercially available IMU technology that is a discrete wearable that directly measures vertical jumping height through vertical displacement using a proprietary algorithm (11). The device has been primarily used to assess jumping performance in sports such as volleyball on rigid surfaces but not on sand.…”

“…VERT was previously considered a valid tool to evaluate CMJ performance (ICC 5 0.93) (36). However, there remains doubt over the quality and consistency of jumping measures with this device (11), especially on a sand surface.…”