Wearable Inertial Sensor Approach for Postural Adjustment Assessments during Predictable Perturbations in Sport

Evidence supports the importance of efficient postural control to improve performance in sports. This involves the use of strategies such as anticipatory posture adjustments and compensatory adjustments. Technology makes analysis and assessments in sports cheaper, while being valid and reliable compared to the gold-standard assessment equipment.

This article aimed to test the validity and reliability of signals extracted from the sensor's accelerometer (Metamotion C), by comparing it to the data obtained from the gold-standard equipment (a three-dimensional video-motion-capture system).

Observational, cross-sectional study.

We exposed 20 healthy young standing people to the pendulum impact paradigm, which consisted of predictable anteroposterior disturbances applied at the shoulder level. In order to measure this, we observed the acceleration of the center of mass in the anticipatory and compensatory phase of the disturbance and compared the signals of the two devices (Metamotion C and a motion-capture system).

The validation results showed the significant linear correlation of all variables with a moderate to large correlation of r ≥ 0.5 between the devices. In contrast, the reliability results between sessions obtained by filming were all significant and above 0.75, indicating excellent reliability. The APAonset variable had a reasonable to high intra-class correlation in the anticipatory phase. In the compensatory phase, the CPA_time variable showed an excellent correlation.

Metamotion C proved reasonably valid and highly reliable in measuring the center of mass acceleration compared to the camera system in both the anticipatory and compensatory phases.