Human bioimpedance-based state detection technologies for sports health monitoring: a review

With the increasing demand for personalized exercise guidance and real-time health assessment, sports health monitoring is shifting from single-index measurement toward continuous and objective human state assessment. Human bioimpedance, used in this review as an umbrella term for the complex electrical impedance measured in human tissues, has become an important physiological sensing approach owing to its portability, operational safety, and compatibility with wearable platforms. The measured impedance is decomposed into resistance and reactance, from which impedance magnitude and phase angle (PhA) are derived, whereas bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), and electrical impedance myography (EIM) represent distinct analytical or regional assessment frameworks. These measurements can provide information related to body composition, fluid distribution, membrane-associated polarization, and local tissue status. This review summarizes recent advances in human bioimpedance for sports health monitoring, focusing on its physiological basis, impedance models, measurement principles, parameter interpretation, and applications in body composition, hydration, fatigue, muscle function, and multimodal monitoring. Existing studies indicate substantial potential for repeated and individualized assessment; however, practical use remains limited by measurement repeatability, motion artifacts, electrode-skin interface stability, model generalizability, and insufficient validation under dynamic conditions. Future research should strengthen standardized reporting, wearable acquisition, multisource data fusion, and physiologically grounded analytical methods.