Change-Point Detection of Peak Tibial Acceleration in Overground Running Retraining

Abstract

A method is presented for detecting changes in the axial peak tibial acceleration while adapting to self-discovered lower-impact running. Ten runners with high peak tibial acceleration were equipped with a wearable auditory biofeedback system. They ran on an athletic track without and with real-time auditory biofeedback at the instructed speed of 3.2 m·s −1 . Because inter-subject variation may underline the importance of individualized retraining, a change-point analysis was used for each subject. The tuned change-point application detected major and subtle changes in the time series. No changes were found in the no-biofeedback condition. In the biofeedback condition, a first change in the axial peak tibial acceleration occurred on average after 309 running gait cycles (3 40"). The major change was a mean reduction of 2.45 g which occurred after 699 running gait cycles (8 04") in this group. The time needed to achieve the major reduction varied considerably between subjects. Because of the individualized approach to gait retraining and its relatively quick response due to a strong sensorimotor coupling, we want to highlight the potential of a stand-alone biofeedback system that provides real-time, continuous, and auditory feedback in response to the axial peak tibial acceleration for lower-impact running.

Reducing the peak tibial acceleration of running by music‐based biofeedback: A quasi‐randomized controlled trial

“…More specifically, the beats per minute of the music were matched to the steps per minute of a participant on a step‐by‐step basis. The steps per minute were derived from the timing of the detected peaks in real time 13,16 . We wish to stress that the instantaneous tempo synchronization of the music permitted cadence‐induced changes if desired by the user.…”

“…This predefined relationship informed the participant to reduce the superimposed noise associated with the momentary level of PTA a by adjusting his or her running form. A momentary level of PTA a below −30% of a runner's baseline value resulted in clear and enjoyable music, 13 implying tempo‐synchronized music without superimposed noise. As such, there was a rewarding solution to unpleasant musical feedback 16 .…”

“…Multiple studies have reported a reduction in PTA a and other impact measures at the end and even following the completion of a treadmill‐based retraining program with the use of real‐time feedback on axial tibial acceleration 3,5,7 . Importantly, real‐time feedback on the PTA a is deliverable during over‐ground running 12,13 . There is proof of concept for music‐based feedback on the PTA a to stimulate a substantial and perhaps clinically meaningful reduction in PTA a (−27% or 2.96 g ) in runners who exhibited high PTA a 12 .…”

Co-regulated timing in music ensembles: A Bayesian listener perspective

“…Despite these and other limitations, BListener may be useful in applications involving music-based bio-feedback. Previous results in this domain (for example in Moens et al, 2014;Van den Berghe et al, 2020;Lorenzoni et al, 2019;Moumddjan et al, 2019;Buhmann et al, 2018) suggest that beneficial outcomes of human-machine synchronization are conditioned by constancy in co-regulated timing. If timing is of low quality, then beneficial effects will probably be poor or even neglectable, suggesting a dependency of effect on timing constancy.…”

“…The co-regulated activity can establish a particular interaction state that affects experiences of agency in participants. Similarly, research on individual-oriented music-based biofeedback systems shows that reinforcement learning can be used to steer users towards particular behaviors (e.g., Van den Berghe et al, 2020;Lorenzoni et al, 2019). BListener could be a component of a biofeedback system that uses reinforcement learning to steer users towards particular co-regulation behaviour in view of attaining particular levels of timing constancy, and, likely, its associated performance quality.…”