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Force-Sensitive Mat for Vertical Jump Measurement to Assess Lower Limb Strength: Validity and Reliability Study
Erik Vanegas1, Yolocuauhtli Salazar2, Raúl Igual1
1Electrical/Electronics Engineering and Communications Department, EUP Teruel, Universidad de Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain.
JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth
|April 9, 2021
Summary
This study validates a low-cost system for measuring vertical jump height, showing high accuracy compared to high-speed cameras. Optimal sampling frequency is crucial for precise jump height measurements, especially for lower jumps.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Sports Science
- Measurement Systems
Background:
- Vertical jump height is a key metric for assessing lower limb muscle power in healthcare and sports.
- Existing measurement methods often lack accuracy, with non-sensor approaches overestimating jump height.
- Novel sensor-based systems, including force-sensitive resistors and inertial measurement units, aim for improved measurement precision.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a newly developed, low-cost system for measuring vertical jump height.
- To investigate the impact of varying sampling frequencies on the accuracy of vertical jump height measurements.
Main Methods:
- A novel system using a force-sensitive resistor sensor mat was developed to measure pressure and calculate jump height via the flight-time formula.
- Experiment 1 involved 38 volunteers to validate the system against a high-speed camera (120 fps).
- Experiment 2 used 15 volunteers to assess the effect of different sampling frequencies (200 Hz, 100 Hz, 66.6 Hz) on measurement accuracy using offline downsampling.
Main Results:
- The system demonstrated high accuracy in Experiment 1, with a mean relative error (MRE) of 1.98% and a coefficient of determination R²=.996 compared to the reference.
- In Experiment 2, sampling frequencies of 200 Hz, 100 Hz, and 66.6 Hz showed MRE below 3%, while slower frequencies led to an exponential increase in error.
- Measurement error decreased with increasing jump height, indicating enhanced precision for higher jumps.
Conclusions:
- The developed low-cost system provides reliable and systematically consistent vertical jump height measurements compared to high-speed cameras.
- A sufficiently high sampling frequency is essential for accurate jump height measurement, particularly for jumps below 10 cm.
- The system's precision improves with higher jump heights, with less impact from sampling frequency variations above 30 cm.
