Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Dec 28;23(1):334. doi: 10.3390/s23010334.
Hockey skating objective assessment can help coaches detect players’ performance drop early and avoid fatigue-induced injuries. This study aimed to calculate and experimentally validate the 3D angles of lower limb joints of hockey skaters obtained by inertial measurement units and explore the effectiveness of the on-ice distinctive features measured using these wearable sensors in differentiating low- and high-calibre skaters. Twelve able-bodied individuals, six high-calibre and six low-calibre skaters, were recruited to skate forward on a synthetic ice surface. Five IMUs were placed on their dominant leg and pelvis. The 3D lower-limb joint angles were obtained by IMUs and experimentally validated against those obtained by a motion capture system with a maximum root mean square error of 5 deg. Additionally, among twelve joint angle-based distinctive features identified in other on-ice studies, only three were significantly different (p-value < 0.05) between high- and low-calibre skaters in this synthetic ice experiment. This study thus indicated that skating on synthetic ice alters the skating patterns such that the on-ice distinctive features can no longer differentiate between low- and high-calibre skating joint angles. This wearable technology has the potential to help skating coaches keep track of the players’ progress by assessing the skaters’ performance, wheresoever.
曲棍球滑冰的客观评估可以帮助教练及早发现运动员表现下降的情况，避免因疲劳引起的伤害。本研究旨在通过惯性测量单元计算和实验验证曲棍球运动员下肢关节的 3D 角度，并探索使用这些可穿戴传感器测量的冰上独特特征在区分低水平和高水平滑冰运动员方面的有效性。 本研究共招募了 12 名健康个体，其中 6 名高水平运动员和 6 名低水平运动员，他们在合成冰面上向前滑冰。5 个 IMU 被放置在他们的主导腿和骨盆上。通过 IMU 获得的 3D 下肢关节角度，并与运动捕捉系统获得的角度进行了实验验证，最大均方根误差为 5 度。此外，在其他冰上研究中确定的 12 个基于关节角度的独特特征中，只有 3 个在这个合成冰实验中在高水平和低水平运动员之间存在显著差异（p 值<0.05）。因此，本研究表明，在合成冰上滑冰会改变滑冰模式，以至于冰上独特特征不再能够区分低水平和高水平滑冰的关节角度。这种可穿戴技术有可能通过评估运动员的表现，帮助滑冰教练随时随地跟踪运动员的进展。
