An Inertial Measurement Unit Based Method to Estimate Hip and Knee Joint Kinematics in Team Sport Athletes on the Field

Current athlete monitoring practice in team sports is mainly based on positional data measured by global positioning or local positioning systems. The disadvantage of these measurement systems is that they do not register lower extremity kinematics, which could be a useful measure for identifying injury-risk factors. Rapid development in sensor technology may overcome the limitations of the current measurement systems. With inertial measurement units (IMUs) securely fixed to body segments, sensor fusion algorithms and a biomechanical model, joint kinematics could be estimated. The main purpose of this article is to demonstrate a sensor setup for estimating hip and knee joint kinematics of team sport athletes in the field. Five male subjects (age 22.5 +/- 2.1 years; body mass 77.0 +/- 3.8 kg; height 184.3 +/- 5.2 cm; training experience 15.3 +/- 4.8 years) performed a maximal 30-meter linear sprint. Hip and knee joint angles and angular velocities were obtained by five IMUs placed on the pelvis, both thighs and both shanks. Hip angles ranged from 195 degrees (+/- 8 degrees) extension to 100.5 degrees (+/- 8 degrees) flexion and knee angles ranged from 168.6 degrees (+/- 12 degrees) minimal flexion and 62.8 degrees (+/- 12 degrees) maximal flexion. Furthermore, hip angular velocity ranged between 802.6 degrees.s(-1) (+/- 192 degrees.s(-1)) and -674.9 degrees.s(-1) (+/- 130 degrees.s(-1)). Knee angular velocity ranged between 1155.9 degrees.s(-1) (+/- 200 degrees.s(-1)) and -1208.2 degrees.s(-1) (+/- 264 degrees.s(-1)). The sensor setup has been validated and could provide additional information with regard to athlete monitoring in the field. This may help professionals in a daily sports setting to evaluate their training programs, aiming to reduce injury and optimize performance.