Human Movement Quality Assessment Using Sensor Technologies in Recreational and Professional Sports: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The use of sensor technology in sports facilitates the data-driven evaluation of human movement not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. This scoping review presents an overview of sensor technologies and human movement quality assessments in ecologically-similar environments. We searched four online databases to identify 16 eligible articles with either recreational and/or professional athletes. A total of 50% of the studies used inertial sensor technology, 31% vision-based sensor technology. Most of the studies (69%) assessed human movement quality using either the comparison to an expert’s performance, to an exercise definition or to the athletes’ individual baseline performance. A total of 31% of the studies used expert-based labeling of the movements to label data. None of the included studies used a control group-based study design to investigate impact on training progress, injury prevention or behavior change. Although studies have used sensor technology for movement quality assessment, the transfer from the lab to the field in recreational and professional sports is still emerging. Hence, research would benefit from impact studies of technology-assisted training interventions including control groups as well as investigating features of human movement quality in addition to kinematic parameters.

Enhancing volleyball training: empowering athletes and coaches through advanced sensing and analysis

“…Many published papers are concerned with ways to measure and model individual behaviour (among others, for position tracking and action recognition, performance and fatigue detection, and action quality recognition) e.g., a recent survey on human movement quality assessment ( 40 ). These papers focus on the measurement and tracking devices that can be used in various sports [e.g., ( 41 , 42 )], including highly customized measurement systems, for example for climbing holds ( 43 ) or bowling grips ( 44 ).…”

Two Repetitions May Be Enough! Reliability of Movement Timing in Physical Fitness Exercises Performed by Young, Trained Adults Using Inertial Sensors

“…Temporal analysis aims at the movement timing using variables such as the duration of the whole cycle of movement and the duration of the movement phases (the latter is expressed in seconds as well as by a percentage of the cycle of movement duration). Force plates [8][9][10][11], and motion capture systems [11,12] have traditionally been used in laboratory testing, whereas wearable inertial sensors have emerged as a portable and affordable tool for assessing human movement patterns in a field setting [1][2][3][4][5][6]13].…”

Single-Leg Countermovement Jump Compensation Assessment: Content Validity of a Checklist

“…Both strength and neuromuscular imbalances are directly related to injury risk factors [4,5]. The movement quality is characterized by capacity to execute motions in a precise and efficient manner [6]. Thus, the neuromuscular imbalances are usually labelled as an important part of human quality of movement, defined as the movement executed with proper posture, breathing, mobility and coordination in activities or specific tasks performed optimally and efficiently [7].…”