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Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back

Ground contact time (GCT) is one of the most relevant factors when assessing running performance in sports practice. In recent years, inertial measurement units (IMUs) have been widely used to automatically evaluate GCT, since they can be used in field conditions and are friendly and easy to wear de...

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Autores principales: González, Leticia, López, Antonio M., Álvarez, Diego, Álvarez, Juan C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10007194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904728
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23052523
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author González, Leticia
López, Antonio M.
Álvarez, Diego
Álvarez, Juan C.
author_facet González, Leticia
López, Antonio M.
Álvarez, Diego
Álvarez, Juan C.
author_sort González, Leticia
collection PubMed
description Ground contact time (GCT) is one of the most relevant factors when assessing running performance in sports practice. In recent years, inertial measurement units (IMUs) have been widely used to automatically evaluate GCT, since they can be used in field conditions and are friendly and easy to wear devices. In this paper we describe the results of a systematic search, using the Web of Science, to assess what reliable options are available to GCT estimation using inertial sensors. Our analysis reveals that estimation of GCT from the upper body (upper back and upper arm) has rarely been addressed. Proper estimation of GCT from these locations could permit an extension of the analysis of running performance to the public, where users, especially vocational runners, usually wear pockets that are ideal to hold sensing devices fitted with inertial sensors (or even using their own cell phones for that purpose). Therefore, in the second part of the paper, an experimental study is described. Six subjects, both amateur and semi-elite runners, were recruited for the experiments, and ran on a treadmill at different paces to estimate GCT from inertial sensors placed at the foot (for validation purposes), the upper arm, and upper back. Initial and final foot contact events were identified in these signals to estimate the GCT per step, and compared to times estimated from an optical MOCAP (Optitrack), used as the ground truth. We found an average error in GCT estimation of 0.01 s in absolute value using the foot and the upper back IMU, and of 0.05 s using the upper arm IMU. Limits of agreement (LoA, 1.96 times the standard deviation) were [−0.01 s, 0.04 s], [−0.04 s, 0.02 s], and [0.0 s, 0.1 s] using the sensors on the foot, the upper back, and the upper arm, respectively.
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spelling pubmed-100071942023-03-12 Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back González, Leticia López, Antonio M. Álvarez, Diego Álvarez, Juan C. Sensors (Basel) Article Ground contact time (GCT) is one of the most relevant factors when assessing running performance in sports practice. In recent years, inertial measurement units (IMUs) have been widely used to automatically evaluate GCT, since they can be used in field conditions and are friendly and easy to wear devices. In this paper we describe the results of a systematic search, using the Web of Science, to assess what reliable options are available to GCT estimation using inertial sensors. Our analysis reveals that estimation of GCT from the upper body (upper back and upper arm) has rarely been addressed. Proper estimation of GCT from these locations could permit an extension of the analysis of running performance to the public, where users, especially vocational runners, usually wear pockets that are ideal to hold sensing devices fitted with inertial sensors (or even using their own cell phones for that purpose). Therefore, in the second part of the paper, an experimental study is described. Six subjects, both amateur and semi-elite runners, were recruited for the experiments, and ran on a treadmill at different paces to estimate GCT from inertial sensors placed at the foot (for validation purposes), the upper arm, and upper back. Initial and final foot contact events were identified in these signals to estimate the GCT per step, and compared to times estimated from an optical MOCAP (Optitrack), used as the ground truth. We found an average error in GCT estimation of 0.01 s in absolute value using the foot and the upper back IMU, and of 0.05 s using the upper arm IMU. Limits of agreement (LoA, 1.96 times the standard deviation) were [−0.01 s, 0.04 s], [−0.04 s, 0.02 s], and [0.0 s, 0.1 s] using the sensors on the foot, the upper back, and the upper arm, respectively. MDPI 2023-02-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10007194/ /pubmed/36904728 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23052523 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
González, Leticia
López, Antonio M.
Álvarez, Diego
Álvarez, Juan C.
Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back
title Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back
title_full Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back
title_fullStr Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back
title_full_unstemmed Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back
title_short Estimation of Ground Contact Time with Inertial Sensors from the Upper Arm and the Upper Back
title_sort estimation of ground contact time with inertial sensors from the upper arm and the upper back
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10007194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904728
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23052523
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