A preliminary investigation of the use of inertial sensing technology for the measurement of hip rotation asymmetry in horse riders

Abstract

. (2014) A preliminary investigation of the use of inertial sensing technology for the measurement of hip rotation asymmetry in horse riders. Sports Technology, 7 (1-2). pp. 79-88. ISSN 1934-6182

Investigation of the use of inertial sensing equipment for the measurement of hip flexion and pelvic rotation in horse riders

“…The aim of this study was to develop a C#.Net software application to automate the process of parsing XML data files exported from MVN Studio TM , to extract joint angle and body segment orientation to CSV format for ease of input to statistical analysis packages such as R. This has previously been identified as a limitation to the practical use of the technology for rider analysis due to the time consuming process of manual extraction of data via Excel, reported as approximately 90 seconds per dataset (Gandy et al, 2014). The data sample analysed in this study required the extraction of data files for 16 riders x three gait variations (halt, trot left, trot right) x two anatomical measures (joint angles, body segment orientation), amounting to a total of 96 datasets.…”

“…This ensured that the horse and rider combination was unaffected by the proximity of the arena's boundary wall (Gandy et al, 2014).…”

“…Prior to data collection, the suit was calibrated individually for each rider using the N-pose and T-pose calibration routines recommended by Xsens TM . A detailed description of the suit and calibration method can be found in Gandy et al (2014).…”

“…Both studies found the technique to be efficient and practical, enabling the assessment of riders to be carried out during dynamic motion, with potential to further advance the analysis of horse and rider interactions within more realistic training and competitive environments. Gandy et al (2014) identified limitations of the technique, in the time-consuming process of manual extraction of CSV files from the XML data exported from the MVN Studio TM software, a step which was necessary to carry out statistical analysis using the R Statistical Package (R Core Team, 2015). They suggested that the development of customised software to carry out the extraction of data to CSV format would significantly reduce analysis time for future research studies and could further provide a tool for use by practitioners within the equestrian industry.…”

“…They confirmed both the within-subject repeatability and between-subject variability of the method for a larger sample size (n=10). Gandy et al (2014) used the Xsens TM MVN motion capture system to measure rider hip rotation asymmetry in both straight lines and circles (12 horse and rider combinations with seven individual riders). Both studies found the technique to be efficient and practical, enabling the assessment of riders to be carried out during dynamic motion, with potential to further advance the analysis of horse and rider interactions within more realistic training and competitive environments.…”