A participant in the motion capture study jumps off a platform while researcher Aaron Gray measures her biomechanics using a video game motion sensor. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Coward)
A motion sensor camera commonly used in Xbox video games could provide a low-cost alternative to expensive motion analysis equipment for use by physical therapists, according to University of Missouri researchers, in a pair of studies.
“In testing the system, we are seeing that it can provide reasonable measurement of hip and knee angles,” says Trent Guess, associate professor of physical therapy and orthopedics at the University of Missouri (MU), in a media release.
“This means that for only a few hundred dollars, this technology may be able to provide clinics and physical therapists with sufficient information on the lower limbs to assess functional movement.”
To test how well this alternative compares against traditional motion analysis equipment, Guess and a team of researchers from MU used the video game system to capture movement from participants doing drop vertical jumps and lateral leg raises, and then captured the same movement using the standard motion capture devices.
According to the researchers, both systems provided similar results.
These findings, published in the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and Sports Health, are the result of a multi-disciplinary collaboration at MU started by Aaron Gray, a sports medicine physician with MU Health Care.
“Assessment of movement is essential to evaluating injury risk, rehabilitative outcomes and sport performance,” Gray says, in a news story. “Our research team is working to bring motion analysis testing—which is expensive and time-consuming—into orthopaedics offices, physical therapy clinics, and athletic facilities using inexpensive and portable technology. Our research has shown that depth camera sensors from video games provide a valid option for motion assessment.”
[Source(s): Phys.Org, MobiHealthNews]
