System Evaluation of Optical Screening and Conditioning for Injury Resilience

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Human Factors Engineering
• Military Medicine

Background:

• Non-combat musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) are a primary cause of military disability.
• Poor exercise form, including misalignment and mistiming, significantly contributes to MSKIs.
• Rehabilitation and conditioning are crucial for building resilience and reducing injury risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the usability of the field-deployed Optical Screening and Conditioning for Injury Resilience (OSCIR) system.
• To validate the real-time biomechanical metrics generated by OSCIR against a marker-based system.
• To evaluate the system's effectiveness in detecting high injury risk movement patterns.

Main Methods:

• The OSCIR system utilizes RGB-D camera arrays and software for real-time motion capture, skeleton tracking, and range of motion analysis.
• Biomechanical accuracy was validated using 13 non-military controls against a marker-based system.
• Usability was assessed among 33 active duty servicemembers using the System Usability Survey (SUS) and structured interviews.

Main Results:

• OSCIR's biomechanical metrics demonstrated good to excellent agreement (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient: 0.80–0.98) with the marker-based system.
• The system received positive end-user feedback, achieving excellent SUS scores (Mean ± SD = 80.77 ± 12.93).
• The system successfully tracked user point clouds, skeletons, and range of motion with exercise-specific injury risk indicators.

Conclusions:

• The OSCIR system provides accurate biomechanical metrics comparable to gold-standard systems.
• Its user-friendly design and high usability scores among military stakeholders indicate its suitability for operational environments.
• OSCIR offers a valuable tool for automating training and rehabilitation, enhancing quantitative form correction, and managing MSKIs in warfighters.